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SAVirfiF.   CO     PHIL^ 


QUEEN  VICTOKIA.. 


THE 


GOLDEN  TREASURY 


HISTORY,   TOPOGRAPHY,    LITERATURE,    SCIENCE, 

ART,  AND  RELIGION 


VARIOUS  COUNTRIES  OF  THE  GLOBE, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  THEIR  ILLUSTRIOUS  PEOPLE. 


BY 


JAMES  HUNTEE,  A.  M 


SOLD    ONLY    BY    SUBSCKIPTION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

THAYER.  MERRIAM  &  COMPANY.  Limited, 

1891. 


Copyright,  18S-,  by 
John   B  i,  a  k  k  i,  y  . 


INTRODUCTION. 


I  HE  study  of  History — including  under  this  term  not  only  a 
record  of  the  great  political  events  of  different  countries,  but 
also  of  their  customs,  arts,  sciences,  literature,  religion,  and 
topography — has  always  had  a  special  attraction  for  the  well- 
constituted  mind.  Man  is  distinguished  from  the  inferior 
animals  as  much  by  an  intelligent  curiosity  as  by  any  other  endowment.  It  is 
this  endowment,  indeed,  that  prompts  him  to  inquire  into  the  unknown — ta 
undertake  perilous  voyages  of  discovery,  to  push  his  researches  into  the 
secrets  of  nature,  to  make  costly  experiments  in  the  domains  of  science  and 
of  art.  But  the  poet  has  well  said :  "The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man;" 
and  in  no  w^ay  can  this  laudable  spirit  of  inquiry  be  so  legitimately  gratified 
as  by  a  study  of  the  history  of  one's  own  and  other  countries,  such  as 
we  now  present. 

If  this  be  true  generally,  it  applies  wnth  double  force  to  our  own  time  and 
country.  The  whole  world  is  becoming  knit  together  into  one  great  family. 
Commerce  and  religion  alike  prompt  us  to  regard  all  men  as  brethren.  By 
means  of  the  telegraphic  wire  and  cable,  information  is  now  conveyed  from 
clime  to  clime  with  the  rapidity  of  thought,  while  the  news  from  all  lands  is 
spread  before  the  public  daily  by  the  periodical  press.  But  these  communi- 
cations do  not  speak  in  the  same  way  to  all.  To  the  man  of  culture  all  is 
intelligible  and  clear.  He  peruses  them  with  pleasure,  often  with  profit,  and 
the  information  thus  acquired  takes  its  due  place  in  his  well-ordered  mind, 
and,  remaining  fixed  in  his  memory,  is  added  to  his  store  of  knowledge.     But 

there  are  many  to  whom  such  communications  are  all  but  valueless.     They 

(1) 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

know  little  or  nothing  of  the  countries  of  which  they  read,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, news  of  them,  or  from  them,  is  neither  fully  intelligible  nor  interesting 
to  them.  It  does  not  amalgamate  with  anything  previously  in  their  minds,  is 
imperfectly  understood,  and  forgotten  nearly  as  soon  as  read. 

In  America,  especially,  to  which  men  flock  from  all  parts  of  the  world  as  to 
an  asylum  for  the  oppressed,  no  man  can  afford  to  be  ignorant  of  the  history 
and  conditions  of  other  lands.  The  uninformed  man  cannot  take  a  proper 
position  in  an  intelligent  community;  he  feels  afraid  to  express  himself,  and  is 
humiliated  and  rendered  unhappy  by  a  sense  of  his  inferiority'. 

It  is  with  the  view  of  putting  it  in  the  power  of  ever)'  inhabitant  of  this 
country  to  enroll  himself  in  the  former  class  that  the  following  work  has  been 
compiled.  The  intelligent  reader  will  perceive  that  it  is  not  a  mere  bald 
record  of  dry  details — a  skeleton-history,  in  fact,  as  we  sometimes  find  such 
publications  to  be — but  that,  while  no'  fact  of  importance  is  omitted,  it  seizes 
more  particularly  on  such  salient  events  as  are  typical  of  the  periods  and 
countries  described,  and,  by  exhibiting  these  in  fuller  detail,  endeavors  to  give 
the  reader  an  insight  into  the  life  and  modes  of  thought  of  the  various  peoples 
and  times.  With  the  object  of  enlivening  the  narrative  and  making  it  pleasing 
as  well  as  instructive,  appropriate  illustrative  poetical  extracts  are  freely  in- 
troduced, as  well  as  interesting  stories  and  legends.  The  topography  of 
the  different  countries  is  fully  e.xhibited  and  similarly  treated.  One  feature 
well  worthy  of  attention  is  the  condensed  reviews  of  the  past  and  present  state 
of  the  literature,  religion,  arts,  and  sciences  of  different  countries,  with  brief 
biographies  of  the  men  who  have  most  distinguished  themselves  in  each  depart- 
ment. The  productions,  industries,  and  resources  of  each  land  are  fully  shown, 
with  its  modes  of  government  and  present  political  situation.  In  short,  the 
aim  has  been  to  overlook  nothing  that  an  intelligent  reader  will  desire  to  learn 
concerning  the  countries  treated.     How  that  end  has  been  attained  it  is  for 

the  generous  American  public  to  determine. 

JAMES  HUNTER. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Queen  Victoria Frontispiece. 

Oxford,  England ii 

Cathedral  of  York 13 

Wycliffe 14 

Westminster  Abbey 16 

Summer  scene  in  England 19 

Druidical  Sacrifices       25 

Alfred  the  Great  in  his  Stldy 31 

Baptism  of  Cnut 35 

William  the  Conqleror 37 

Burial  of  William  the  Conqueror         .   •.     .  40 

William  II.  (Rufus) 41 

JIenry  1 43 

Stephen  1 44 

Henry  II 45 

Warwick  Castle 46 

Murder  of  Thom.-vs-a-Becket 47 

Gathering  of  Crusaders 50 

Richard  I.  (Cceur-de-Lion) 51 

King  John  swearing  Vengeance  against  the 

Barons 52 

Henry  III 54 

Edward  I.  (Longshanks) 56 

A  Tournament 57 

Edw.\rd  II 59 

The  Tower  of  London        60 

Edward  III 61 

Windsor  Castle  from  the  River        ....  64 

Chaucer  :  Characteristic  Scenes  of  his  Time  65 

Richard  II 68 

Costumes  of  Richard  II. 's  Time 69 

Henry  V 73 

Henry  VI 74 

Margaret  of  Anjou  and  the  Robber      ...  76 

Edward  IV 77 

Richard  III 78 

Murder  of  Edward  IV.'s  Children         ...  79 

Edward  VI 84 

Mary  1 84 

Queen  Elizabeth  in  her  Youth 85 

Sir  Francis  Drake 86 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh       .     .     • 87 

Shakespeare 88 

Carrying  Queen  Elizabeth  in  State      ...  90 

Costumes  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  Time      ...  90 

Charles  1 93 

Oliver  Cromwell        95 

Trial  of  Charles  1 96 

e.kecution  of  charles  1 97 

Milton     dictating     Paradise     Lost     to     his 

Daughter loi 

Charles  II.          102 

William  III.  (of  Orange)        104 

Costumes,  Time  of  William  and  Mary       .     .  105 

Queen  Anne         106 

Costumes  of  Anne's  Time 107 

Lord  Byron        113 

Prince  of  Wales 119 

Houses  of  Parliament,  London 123 


PAGE 

Portrait  of  Gladstone       124 

St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London        127 

Irish  Jaunting-car 132 

Bessbrook  Linen    Mills  and  Village,  County 

Armagh,  Ireland       133 

Father  Matihew        135 

Robs  Castle,  Killarney 136 

Monument  to  Daniel  O'Connell 137 

Charles  Stewart  Parnell 138 

Birthplace  of  Thomas  Moore 139 

The  Giant's  Causeway        140 

Oliver  Goldsmith       142 

Custom  House,  Dublin ,.  143 

Edinburgh 144 

Home  of  Robert  Burns       145 

Robert  Burns 150 

James  Watt  discovering  the  Power  of  Steam  151 

"Brigs  o'  Ayr" 152 

Sir  Walter  Scott       153 

Thomas  Carlyle 154 

Sir  William  Wallace 157 

Royal  Regalia  of  Scotland        158 

Mary  Stuart  receiving  her  Death-Sentence.  159 

St.  Augustine,  Florida       161 

Scene  in  Central  America 163 

Portrait  of  Pizarro       165 

South  American  Indians 168 

Popocatepetl       170 

Hidalgo  y  Costello        172 

Benito  Jiarez,  Ex-President  of  Mexico     .     .  174 

Cypress  Trees  at  Chapultepec        175 

The  Inca  Hauscar 176 

Bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro       181 

Gallery  of  Dom  Pedro  1 183 

Niagara  of  Brazil      .    -. 187 

Tail-piece        188 

Harbor  and  City  of  Quebec       189 

Death  of  Montcalm        192 

The  Thousand  Islands 196 

Scene  on  the  Eastern  Coast  of  Canada    .     .  198 

The  Capitol  at  Washington       200 

Plymouth  Rock 202 

An  Indian  Attack       203 

Penn's  Treaty  with  the  Indians        ....  205 

Patrick  Henry       211 

Lexington       212 

Declaration  of  Independence 215 

On  the  War-path       217 

George  Washington        219 

Mount  Vernon        .     .    '. 220 

The  White  House;   Home  of  the  Presidents   224 

John  Adams 225 

Thomas  Jefferson        226 

Jamf^  Madison 22S 

James  Monroe 229 

John  Quincy  Adams 230 

John  C.  Calhoun 231 

A  Mormon  Home 232 

Andrew  Jackson 232 

3 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Danif.i,  Webster      . 

Martin  V'an  Buren 

General  William  H.  Harrison 

John  Tyler     

James  K.  1'olk 

The  Alamo,  Mexico 

Zachaky  Taylor 

Millard  Killmore 

Franklin  Pierce 

James  Buchanan 

Abraham  Lincoln 

ViCKSBURG 

John  Ericsson 

Andrew  Johnson 

Indian  Chief 

General  t'iRANT 

RUTHKRKOKI)    15.   HAYES 

Samuel  J.  TiLDEN 

James  A.  Garfield 

Chester  A.  Arthur 

General  Hancock 

Stephen  Grover  Cleveland 

Giant   Trees  of  California 

Niagara  Falls 

YosEMiTE  Valley 

switjjerlanij  of  america 

Point  Chautauqua 

Tii'TOP  House,  Mount  Washington      .    .     . 

William  Cullen  Bryant 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow      .     .     .     . 
Birthplace  of  John  Howard  Payne     .    .     . 

Grand  Canal,  Venice 

School  of  Vestal  Virgins 

Statue  OF  Julius  C.«sar 

Interior  of  St.  Peter's,  Rome 

Raphael 

Galileo 

Doge's  Palace,  Venice 

Destruction  of  Pompeii 

Pope  Pius  IX 

Guiseppe  Garibaldi 

King  Humbert  IV 

Angoui.eme 

Marie  Antoinette 

Napoleon's  Residence  at  St.  Helena     .     . 

Tomb  of  Napoleon  I 

Blucher's  March  to  Waterloo 

Porte  St.  Denis 

Column,  Place  Vend6me,  Paris 

CoMTE  DE  Paris 

General  Boulanger    

Royal  Palace,  Madrid 

The  Ar.mada 

Spanish  Priest 

Bridge  of  Saragossa 

King  Alfonso  XH 

On  the  Coast  of  Norway 

The  Vikings 

Queen    Margaret   awaiting    the   Attack 

the  Vitali 

TvcHo  Brahe      

Lake  of  Geneva     

Arnold  von  Winkelried  at  Sempach    .     . 

John  Calvin 

Belfry  of  Bru(;es 

Street  in  Ghent 

Heidelberg  Castle,  from  the  Neckar    .     . 

Street  in  Berlin 

Martin  Luther 

Mayence 

First  Printing-Press 

Copernicus 

John  Kepler ', 

Cologne  Cathedral   


PAGE 

■  2ii 

■  235 

•  236 

■  236 

•  237 
.  238 

239 

.  240 

■  241 
.  242 

■  243 
.  246 
.  246 
.  248 

■  249 
.  250 

•  251 
,  252 
.  252 

•  253 

•  255 
.  256 
,  256 
,  257 
.  258 

■  259 
.  260 

•  263 
,  264 
.  26S 

•  273 

•  277 
.  2S1 
.  2S5 
.  287 
.  2S9 
.  290 

•  295 
.  296 

■  297 
.  298 

•  299 

•  306 

■  307 

•  308 

•  309 

•  310 

•  3" 

•  312 

•  3'3 

•  3"4 

•  317 

•  3'9 

•  320 

•  322 

■  324 

•  325 

•  327 

•  330 

•  33' 

■  335 

•  3i(> 

■  337 

•  338 

•  340 

•  342 

■  344 

■  346 

•  347 

■  348 
.  348 

•  350 


Bismarck 351 

Von  Moltke 353 

Crown  Prince  of  Germany 356 

Street  in  Vienna 357 

Napoleon  and  Louise 359 

Beethoven 360 

Glacier 362 

Novgorod 364 

Peter  the  Great 366 

Catherine  the  Great  of  Russia 368 

Burning  of  Moscow 369 

Siege  of  Sebastopol 371 

Ale.\ander  II 372 

Reading  Emancipation  Proclamation  ....  373 

Nihilist  Printing-office 374 

Crossing  the  Steppes 375 

Newsky  Prospect 377 

Kremlin  at  Moscow 378 

Cathedral  at  St.  Basil 379 

Odessa 380 

Archimandrite 381 

Russian  Nuns  begging  Alms 381 

Russian  Family 382 

Gold  Mines,  Siberia 383 

Siberian  Dogsledge 384 

Constantinople       385 

Mosque 389 

Alexandf.r  I.  OF  Bulgaria 390 

Dervishes 391 

Circassian 394 

A  Sultana's  Room 395 

Remains  of  ruined  Temple  at  Corinth    .     .    .  396 

Site  of  Troy 398 

PiATo 402 

Aristotle 402 

King  George  1 403 

View  of  Crete 404 

Acropolis  at  Athens 405 

Tail-piece 406 

The  Pyramids 407 

Exterior  of  Temple  of  Isis 410 

Cairo 412 

Doum  Palms 416 

Moses'  Well 417 

Ferry  of  Kantara 418 

Egyptian  Family 420 

A  Street  in  Tunis 423 

Scenes  in  the  Life  of  Dr.  Livingstone     .     .     .  426 

Christmas  at  an  African  Station 427 

Asiatic  Types 429 

Birth  of  Christ 431 

Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 433 

Hillah,  on  the  Euphrates 435 

Avenue  of  Hindoo  Temples 437 

LUCKNOW 440 

Bombay 441 

Hindoo  Gods 443 

Hindoo  Musician 445 

Hindoo  Princess 447 

The  sacred  Altar  of  Heaven,  Pekin   ....  449 

Chinf.se  Hanging-Garden 451 

Interior  of  a  Chinese  Temple 452 

Chinese  Locomotion 454 

Chinese  Family 455 

Chinese  Children 457 

Japanese  Lady 458 

Japanese  Family 460 

Botanical  Garden,  Adelaide 462 

Ornithorhynchus 467 

Australian 468 

Lake  Rothe-Mahana 470 

New  Zealander 471 

Dyaks  of  Borneo 474 

A  Volcanic  Cone 475 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction i 

ENGLAND. 

ENGLAND  TO  THE  TIME  OF  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST. 

Extent  and  physical  aspect  of  England — Picturesque  scenery — Homes  of  the  poets — Agriculture,  manufactures, 
and  commerce — National  debt — Army  and  navy — Religion  of  ancient  Britain — Druidical  sacrifices — Boa- 
dicea  and  her  struggle  with  the  Romans — Early  British  tribes  and  races — The  story  of  Caedmon — Clothing 
and  domestic  habits  of  the  earlier  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain — Scandinavian  invasion — Alfred  the  Great — 
St.  Dunstan  and  the  Devil — Torture  of  Queen  Edgiva — The  Danes  and  Anglo-Saxons  become  one  united 
people — King  Cnut  and  "  the  pudding  " — Godwin  and  his  singular  death      .         .         .         .         .         .         .11 

FROM  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST  TO   THE  REIGN  OF  THE    HOUSE   OF  LANCASTER. 

Battle  of  Hastings  and  conquest  of  England — Norman  law  phrases  in  our  American  courts — Characteristic  death 
of  William  the  Conqueror — Assassination  of  William  Rufus — Battle  at  Trenchbray — Wreck  of  the  "  White 
Ship" — Robin  Hood,  Little  John,  and  Friar  Tuck — Modes  of  trial  by  ordeal — Murder  of  Thomas-a-Becket, 
and  penance  of  Henry  II. — Poisoning  of  the  fair  Rosamond — Richard  Coeurde-Lion  and  his  wars  in  Pales- 
tine— Saracenic  terror  of  Richard — Romantic  story  associated  with  Richard's  captivity  in  Austria — "  The 
devil  is  loose  " — Magna  Charta — Murder  at  midnight  of  Arthur,  heir  to  the  throne  of  England — Eleanor  of 
Castile  sucking  the  poison  from  the  wound  of  her  husband — Roger  Bacon  and  his  great  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries— His  discovery  of  gunpowder — His  persecution  and  imprisonment — The  Welsh  Bards — ^The  first 
prince  of  Wales — Attempt  to  subjugate  Scotland — Execution  of  Jews — -Tournaments — Sports  of  the  common 
people — Beheading  of  Gaveston — Terrible  death  of  Edward  II. — English  and  Scottish  border  warfare — 
Battles  of  Crecjy  and  Poictiers  in  France — The  "  Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Garter" — Wickliffe  and  the  Re- 
formation in  England — -Chaucer,  "the  Father  of  English  Poetry" — Westminster  Abbey — Insurrection  of 
Wat  Tyler  and  Jack  Straw — The  Battle  of  Chevychase — Whittington  and  his  cat 37 

FROM  HENRY  IV.  TO  THE  EXECUTION  OF  CHARLES  I. 
Owen  Glendower,  Douglas,  and  Harry  Hotspur — Battle  of  Agincourt — Rebellion  of  Jack  Cade — The  "Wars 
of  the  Roses  " — Margaret  of  Anjou  and  the  robber — Warwick,  the  "  King-maker  "—Introduction  of  printing 
into  England — Witchcraft  and  astrology — Death  of  Richard  III.  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth — Impostures  of 
Lambert  Simnel  and  Perkin  Warbeck — Battle  of  Flodden — Fall  of  Cardinal  Wolsey — Tyrannical  reign  of 
Henry  VIII. — "  Bloody  Mary  " — Execution  of  Maiy,  Queen  of  Scots — Destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada — 
Francis  Drake  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh — Shakespeare  and  the  golden  age  of  English  literature — Lord  Bacon 
— The  translation  of  the  Scriptures — The  English  Revolution  under  Cromwell,  Hampden,  Pym  and  others — 
Trial  and  execution  of  Charles  I.  ..............     71 

FROM  THE  COMMONWEALTH  TO  THE  PRESENT. 

The  "  Praise-God  Barebones  Parliament  " — Milton  and  his  poetry — The  plague  of  London — Great  fire  of  Lon- 
don— The  "  Rye-house  Plot  " — Bunyan  and  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress" — Battle  of  the  Boyne — Newton  and 
his  discoveries — A  brilliant  age  of  literature — Rise  and  development  of  Methodism — Defeat  of  Charles 
Edward  at  CuUoden — Founding  of  the  British  Empire  in  India — Conquest  of  Canada — The  new  style  of 
reckoning  time  introduced — Hogarth  and  his  pictures — English  comedy — Victories  over  France  and  Spain  on 
sea  and  land — Great  poets  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries — The  steam-engine  and  other  remarkable 
inventions  and  discoveries — English  statesmanship  and  oratory — Catholic  emancipation — Steam  navigation — 
The  Ci7Stal  Palace — Crimean  war — Indian  mutiny^The  Zulu  war  and  death  of  Prince  Napoleon — The  war 
in  the  Soudan  and  murder  of  General  Gordon — Beaconsfield  and  Gladstone — Art,  literature,  science  and 

philosophy  in  England  at  the  present  day 96 

(5) 


6  CONTENTS. 

I  RELAN  D. 

Similarity  of  the  aspect  of  the  country  and  the  character  of  the  people— English  rule  in  Ireland— Humorous 

Legends St.  Patrick  and  "  The  King  of  the  Serpents" — Agriculture  and  manufactures  in  Ireland — Wit  and 

humor  of  the  beggars — The  jaunting-car — Father  Matthew  and  his  temperance  campaign — The  Blarney  Stone 

The  Lakes  of  Killarney  and  their  beautiful  legends — Legends  of  other  lakes — Daniel  O'Connell  and  Catho. 

lie  emancipation — Charles  Stewart  I'arnell  and  the  Irish  Home  Rule  Party — Irish  statesmen,  patriots,  and 
orators The  poetry  of  Thomas  Moore — The  Giant's  Causeway — Belfast  and  Dublin — The  primitive  inhab- 
itants of  Ireland — Irish  civilization  and  scholarship  at  the  period  when  other  nations  were  sunk  in  darkness 
and  barbarism — The  great  contributions  of  Ireland  to  English  literature,  science  and  art        .         .         .         .129 

SCOTLAN  D. 

A  land  ruggeo,  but  free  and  independent — The  vast  strides  made  in  one  century  from  obscurity  and  poverty  to  a 
foremost  place  in  the  civilization  of  the  world — Geographical  aspect  of  Scotland — The  Highland  and  Low- 
land races — Their  "  fierce  native  daring  "  in  warfare — Rob  Roy — Agriculture  and  manufactures  in  Scotland 
— Scottish  fisheries — The  national  religion— Scottish  universities— Great  names  in  literature  science  and 
art — Picturesque  and  beautiful  scenery — Epochs  of  Scottish  history — Wallace  and  Bruce — Mary,  Queen  ol 
Scots — John  Knox  and  the  Scottish  Refonnatii)n— Union  of  Scotland  with  England  upon  equal  terms  .         .  144 

CENTRAL    AND    SOUTH    AMERICA. 

A  preliminary  glance  at  the  stupendous  strides  made  eveiy  day  by  the  United  States — All  climates  within  its 
territor)' — Its  vast  resources — Pre-Columl)ian  discovery  of  America — Voyages  of  Columbus— Americus  Ves- 
pucius — Search  for  the  "Fountain  of  Youth" — The  discovery  of  the  Pacific  ocean  by  Balboa — Invasion  of 
Mexico  by  Cortez — Its  conquest  by  Spain — Achievement  of  its  independence — Capture  of  Mexico  by  the 
United  States — Invasion  of  Mexico  by  the  French,  and  the  Austrian  Prince  Maximilian  placed  upon  its  throne 
— The  Emperor  Maximilian  shot — Benito  Juarez  and  Porfirio  Diaz — Mexico  described — Pizarro  and  the  con- 
quest of  Peru — Wealth  of  ancient  Peru — Peruvian  war  of  independence  under  Bolivar — Peruvian  silver  mines 
— Railway  traffic  in  Peru  — Venezuela  and  her  struggle  for  independence — Prosperous  condition  of  Chili — 
The  Argentine  Confederation — Central  America — The  acquisition  of  Brazil  by  Portugal — Proclamation  of 
independence — Extent,  mineral  wealth,  and  agricultuml  resources  of  Brazil — People  of  Brazil — The  literary 
and  scientific  attainments  of  iis  present  emperor    ............   161 

CANADA. 

Discoveries  of  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot — Jacques  Cartier  sails  into  and  gives  name  to  the  "  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence " — Founding  of  Quebec — Aboriginal  inhabitants  of  Canada — The  capture  of  Quebec  and  deaths  of  Gen- 
eral Wolfe  and  the  Marquis  de  Montcalm — Invasion  of  Canada  and  capitulation  of  General  Hull — The  fair 
dealing  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  with  her  Indians — Louis  Riel's  rebellion — Murder  of  Scott — The  Red 
River  expedition  under  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley — The  governmental  constitution  of  Canada — Extent  of  territory 
— Progress  in  agriculture — Canadian  fisheries — Navigation  and  railway  travel — Vast  resources  of  British 
Columbia      ...................  189 

THE    UNITED    STATES. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  TO  THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Settlement  of  the  United  States — John  .Smith  and  Pocahontas^— Settlement  of  Maryland — The  Pilgrims'  voyage 
in  the  Mayflower — Colonization  of  New  England — Penn's  treaty  with  the  Indians — James  Oglethorpe  and  the 
settlement  of  Georgia 200 

FROM  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  WASHINGTON. 

Ignorance  and  folly  of  the  English  Government — The  "  Stamp  Act  "  and  its  repeal — The  tax  on  tea — Destruc- 
tion of  tea  in  Boston  harbor — Eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry — War  declared  between  England  and  the  Colonies 
— Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill— Battles  of  Trenton,  Princeton,  and  Bennington — Surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Sar- 
atoga— Massacre  in  the  valley  of  Wyoming — Treason  of  Arnold  and  execution  of  Major  Andre — The  siege 
of  Vorktown — Surrender  of  Comwallis — Treaty  of  peace  between  the  English  and  United  Stales— Life,  char- 
acter and  appearance  of  George  Washington — His.death 208 


CONTENTS.  7 

LITERATURE  AND  GENERAL  PROGRESS  IN  THE  COLONIAL   PERIOD. 

First  book  written  in  America — Poetry,  science  and  philosophy  of  Colonial  authors — Jonathan  Edwards — Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  his  writings,  inventions  and  discoveries — The  "  Greatest  Natural  Botanist  in  the  World"      .  221 

THE  THIRTEEN  STATES  A  NATION— ITS  HISTORY  TO  THE  WAR  WITH  MEXICO. 

Convention  at  Philadelphia — Ability  and  energy  of  Alexander  Hamilton — Duel  between  HamiltDn  and  .Aaron 
Burr — Hamilton's  successful  financial  measures^Death  of  Wasliington — .\dams'  administration — Jefferson's 
administration — Trial  of  Aaron  Burr  for  treason — Fulton's  invention  of  the  steamboat — War  of  1812 — The 
"  .Monroe  Doctrine" — Visit  of  Marquis  Lafayette — Eloquence  ol  Henry  Chay — Statesmanship  of  John  C.Cal- 
houn— Joseph  Smith  and  the  religion  of  the  Mormons — Andrew  Jackson's  administration — His  civil  and  mil- 
itary career — Daniel  Webster  and  Robert  Hayne — Panic  of  1837 — Invention  of  the  telegraph  by  Morse — 
War  declared  against  Mexico        ..,.....,,..,,.  22a 

FROM  THE  MEXICAN  WAR  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY. 

Generals  Taylor  and  Scott  invade  Mexico — Battle  of  Buena  Vista — Capture  of  Mexico  by  General  Winfield 
Scott — Zachary  Taylor's  victories — The  Missouri  Compromise — -Stephen  A.  Douglas,  "  The  Little  Giant" — 
Election  of  .Abraham  Lincoln  and  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war — Defeat  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  and  sur- 
render of  General  Lee  to  General  Grant — -Assassination  of  Abraham  Lincoln — Reference  to  the  sea-fight 
between  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac — Inventions  of  John  Ericsson — Great  fire  in  Chicago — Fire  in  Boston — 
Battle  between  General  Custer  and  Sioux  Indians — Death  of  Custer — Political  contest  between  R.  B.  Hayes 
and  S.  J.  Tilden — .Assassination  of  President  Garfield — Death  of  General  Hancock — Career  of  Stephen  Grover 
Cleveland     ...................  236 

PHYSICAL  FEATURES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Mountain  systems  of  the  United  States — Giant  trees  of  California — Falls  of  Niagara — The  Yosemite  Falls — The 
Switzerland  of  America — The  "  Switch-Back  "  railroad — Chautauqua — Mount  Washington — United  States 
Signal  Service — Weather  indications  and  cautionary  signals  ..........  255 

LITERATURE  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS. 

Drake — Halleck — Br)'ant — Longfellow- — Holmes,  with  extracts  from  his  poetry — Poetry  of  Whittier — Sad  life 
and  dcith  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe — -John  Howard  Payne,  his  dramatic  works — Verses  of  "  Home,  Sweet  Home  " 
usually  omitted — Remains  of  Payne  brought  from  Africa  to  the  United  States — Living  poets — Prose  authors 
— Novelists — Historians  and  essayists — Progress  in  engraving  and  book-illustration — Chromolithography — 
American  painters  and  sculptors — Musical  compositions — .American  inventive  talent      .         .         .         .         •  262 

ITALY. 

ROME. 

Climate  and  physical  aspect  of  Italy — Its  wealth  in  art — -Great  achievements  of  the  Italian  people — Romulus 
and  Remus  and  the  she-wolf — The  rape  of  the  Sabines — ^The  Horatii  and  the  Curiatii — The  rape  of  Lucrelia 
and  banishment  of  the  Tarquins — Three  Romans  keep  at  bay  a  hostile  army — War  between  Rome  and  Car- 
thage— Stupendous  victories  gained  by  Hannibal  over  the  Romans — Hannibal's  defeat  and  death — Destruction 
of  Carthage — Marius  and  Sulla — Caius  Julius  Caesar,  and  anecdotes  concerning  him — His  victories  and  re- 
forms initiated  by  him — .Assassination  of  Cresar — Reign  of  Augustus,  and  golden  age  of  Roman  literature — 
Destruction  of  Jerusalem — Persecution  of  Christians  and  burning  of  Rome  under  Nero — Roman  Catacombs 
—Career  of  Rienzi — The  Colosseum — St.  Peter's  and  the  Vatican — Italian  art — Michael  Angelo  and 
Raphael 273 

PROMINENT  CITIES  OF  ITALY. 

Beauty  of  Florence — Dante  and  his  "  Divine  Comedy  " — Great  men  born  in  Florence — Its  magnificent  monu- 
ments and  works  of  art — The  city  of  Venice — Terrible  government  of  the  "  Council  of  Ten  " — The  Bridge  of 
Sighs — Grand  Canal  of  Venice — P.idua — Verona  and  the  great  men  born  there — It  manufactures  and  .-igricul- 
tural  products — Interesting  aspect  of  Milan — M.agnificent  cathedral  in  Milan — Beautiful  situation  of  Naples — 
Life  in  Naples — Ruins  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum — .A  united  Italy — Cavour,  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi — 
Pope  Pius  IX. — Garibaldi's  life  in  New  York — Present  government  of  Italy — Attempted  assassination  of  King 
Humbert 288 


8  CONTENTS. 

FRANCE.  ' 

FRANCE  FROM  ITS  EARLIEST  HISTORY  TO  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Primitive  inhabitants  of  France— Merovingian  chiefs— Clovis,  and  founding  of  the  French  monarchy— Reign  of 
Charlemagne— The  Capet  dynasty — The  Crusades — Peter  the  Hermit— Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Godfrey  of 

Bouillon Second  crusade — Noble  conduct  of  the  Sultan  Saladin — The  Boy  Crusade — Life  in  the  middle  ages 

Tournaments— The  Chevalier  Bayard — Romantic   literature — Richelieu,  Mazarin,  and  Colbert — Rabelais 

and  his  humorous  romances— Essays  of  Montaigne— Wits  and  literary  men  of  France— Disgraceful  reign  of 
Louis  XV.— Debauchery  of  the  Court  of  France— Sufferings  of  the  French  people 299 

THE  REVOLUTION  IN  FRANCE. 

Starvation  amongst  the  French  people — Storming  of  the  Uastile — Insurrection  of  women — Mirabeau — F'light  of 

Louis  XIV. "  The  Marseillaise  "  war-hymn — Trial  and  execution  of  King  Louis — The  assassination  of  Marat 

by  Charlotte  Corday — The  "  Reign  of  Terror  " — Notable  executions — The  "  Goddess  of  Reason  "        .         .   304 

FRANCE  FROM  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  CAREER  OF  NAPOLEON. 

Character  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte — Characteristic  anecdotes — Personal  appearance  of  Napoleon — His  banish- 
ment and  death  at  St.  Helena — French  Revolution  of  1848,  and  flight  of  Louis  Phillippe — French  Republic 
nd  Empire  under  Louis  Napoleon — Defeat  of  the  Austrians  by  the  French  under  Napoleon  III.— The 
Franco-German  war — Destruction  of  the  Vendome  Column  by  the  Communists — Magnificence  of  Paris — Its 
marvels  of  architecture — Museums,  galleries  and  theatres — Present  claimants  to  the  throne  of  France — Gen- 
eral Boulanger — French  greatness  in  literature,  science  and  art — France,  the  vineyard  of  the  earth         .         .  306 

SPAIN. 

Geographical  aspect  of  Spain — Earliest  inhabitants  of  Spain — Serlorius  and  his  tame  fawn — Defeat  of  Roderic, 
"  Last  of  the  Goths  " — Chronicle  of  the  "  Cid  " — Defeat  of  the  Moors  by  the  Cid,  after  his  death — Splendor 
of  Granada — I'alace  of  the  Alhambra — Siege  of  Granada — "The  Last  Sigh  of  the  Moor" — The  Spanish 
Armada — Literature  and  art  of  Spain — Circumstances  under  which  Cervantes  wrote  "  Don  Quixote  " — Anec- 
dote of  Murillo — .\necdote  of  Marshal  Soult — Madrid — Bull-fighting — Description  of  Seville  and  Valencia — 
The  Virgin  Mary  and  her  portrait — Singular  story  concerning  St.  Vincent — Saragossa  and  its  sieges — The 
maid  of  Saragossa — Revolution  in  Spain — Assassination  of  General  Prim — Spain  a  republic — Alfonso 
becomes  king — Spanish  love  for  shows,  games  and  festivals — Passion  for  dancing — Love  of  fighting — 
Various  traits  of  the  Spanish  people 3 '4 

PORTUGAL. 

Extent,  climate,  and  resources  of  Portugal — Lisbon  and  its  subjection  to  earthquakes — Camoens  and  his  great 
poem,  "  The  Lusiad  " — Grotto  of  Camoens  in  China — Industry  and  commerce  of  the  Portuguese  .         .         •  3^3 

DENMARK,  NORWAY  AND  SWEDEN. 

The  Scandinavian  sea-kings — Charlemagne  and  the  Norsemen — Mythology  and  war-songs  of  the  Vikings — 
Norse  settlements  in  England  and  France — Margaret,  the  "  Semiramis  of  the  North  " — Victories  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus — The  battle  of  Lutzen  and  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus — Career  of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden — 
Union  of  Norway  and  Sweden — Character  of  the  Danes — Danish  literature,  art  and  science — Character  of 
the  Norwegians  and  the  Swedes — Recreations  and  amusements 324 

SWITZERLAND. 

Early  races  of  Switzerland — The  House  of  Hapsburg — The  vow  of  the  Swiss  patriots — Death  of  Gessler  by 
William  Tell — The  battle  of  Mortgarten — The  Swiss  Confederation — Battle  of  Sempach  and  heroic  conduct 
of  Arnold  von  Winkelried — Victory  at  Nefels  and  achievement  of  independence  by  the  Swiss — The  Sempach 
convention — Production  and  commerce — Exports  of  Geneva — .A.lpine  ascents — Chamouni,  Mont  Blanc,  and 
Lake  of  Geneva — Imprisonment  of  Bonnivard  in  the  Castle  of  Chillon — Intellectual  achievements  of  the 
Swiss 331 

THE    NETHERLANDS. 
Religion  of  Holland  and  Belgium — City  of  Brussels — Ch.->.racter  of  the  Belgians — Scenery  of  Holland — Dutch 
ancestry — Cleanliness — Legend  of  the  Flying  Dutchman 337 


CONTENTS.  9 

GERMANY. 

United  German  Empire — House  of  HohenzoUern — Thirty  Years'  war — Peace  of  Westphalia The  Seven  Years' 

war— Frederick  the  Great— Legends  of  the  Rhine — Nibelungenlied — Life  in  Berlin— Luther  and  Melanc- 
thon — Luther  throws  the  inkstand  at  the  devil — Beautiful  legend  of  St.  Elizabeth — Anecdotes  of  Augustus  II. 
—Dresden  and  Mayence — Invention  of  printing — Art,  science  and  literature  of  Germany — Cologne  cathedral 
— St.  Ursula  and  the  eleven  thousand  virgins — Franco-German  war — Shrewdness  and  foresight  of  the  Emperor 
AVilliam — Statesmanship  of  Bismarck — Generalship  of  Von  Moltke — Surrender  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III. 
— Proclamation  of  the  German  Empire  in  Versailles— Anecdote  of  Emperor  William 340 

AUSTRIA. 

Area  of  Austria — Government  and  population  of  Austria — Defeat  of  the  Turks  under  the  walls  of  Vienna 

Music  and  musicians — Palace  of  Schonbrunn — Bavaria — BohemiaT-Curious  relics  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Vitus 

in  Prague — Loretta  chapel  in  Prague — Tyrol  and  the  Tyrolese ^CJ 

RUSSIA. 

Early  history  of  Russia — Defeat  of  Peter  the  Great  by  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden — Habits  of  Peter  the  Great — 
Palace  of  ice — Catherine  the  Great — Defeat  of  Kosciusko  and  ruin  of  Poland — French  retreat  from  Moscow 
— War  in  the  Crimea — Death  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas — Emancipation  of  the  Serfs — Assassination  of  Alex- 
ander II. — The  Nihilists — Alexander  III. — Conquests  of  Russia  in  Central  Asia — St.  Petersburg — Moscow — 
The  Kremlin — Novgorod — Religion  of  the  Russians — Russian  superstitions — Siberia — Siberian  lack  of  hos- 
pitality   364 

TURKEY. 

Geographical  position  and  population  of  Turkey — The  Mahometan  religion — Turkish  history — Defeat  of  Bajazet 
by  Tamerlane — Siege  of  Constantinople — Massacre  of  the  Janizaries — War  with  Russia — Dancing  Dervishes 
— Turkish  shopkeepers — Women  in  Turkey— Legend  of  the  Maiden's  Tower        ......  385 

GREECE. 

Remarkable  physical  features,  climate  and  history  of  Greece — -Supreme  quality  of  its  literature,  philosophy, 
science  and  art — Lycurgus,  Draco  and  Solon — Marathon — Thermopylse — Plague  at  Athens — Epaminondas 
— Philip  of  Macedon — Defeat  of  Porus  by  Alexander  the  Great — Philosophers  of  Greece — Greek  oratory  and 
the  drama — Modern  history — Ruins  of  ancient  cities  and  temples — Religion  of  the  Greeks     ....  396 

EGYPT. 

Early  civilization  of  Egypt^ — Overflowing  of  the  Nile — Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx — Superstitions  of  the  Eg)-ptians 
— Rameses  the  Great — Statue  of  Memnon — Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Cambyses — Antony  and  Cleopatra — Invasion 
of  Egypt  by  Napoleon — Assassination  of  General  Kleber — Pefeat  of  the  Fj-ench  at  Aboukir — Life  in  Cairo — 
Ruins  of  Egyptian  temples  and  statues — Ruins  of  Thebes — Moses'  Well — The  Suez  canal — Religion  of  an- 
cient Egypt — Remarkable  discovery  of  Mummies — The  Soudan— Arabs  of  the  Soudan — "Chinese  Gordon" 
— Suakin      ...................  407 

THE    BARBARY    STATES. 

Morocco  and  the  Moors — American  resistance  to  slave-trading — Attack  upon  Tripoli  by  Commodore  Preble — 
Capture  of  Algerine  vessels  by  Commodore  Decatur — Attack  upon  Algiers  by  an  English  fleet — Defeat  of 
Abdel  Kader  by  the  French 422 

CENTRAL    AND    SOUTH    AFRICA. 

Desert  of  Sahara — Wild  animals  of  Africa — .African  Pigmies — Source  of  the  Nile — The  Congo  and  the  Zambesi 
'      — African  explorers  and  exploration — Livingstone's  propositions  in  regard  to  Africa       .....  424 

SYRIA    AND    PALESTINE. 

Syria  and  Palestine — The  "  Holy  Places" — The  Holy  Sepulchre — Strange  people  in  Jerusalem — Antioch  and 
Damascus — Ruins  of  Tadmor — Ruins  of  Baalbec — Tyre  and  .Sidon — Siege  of  Acre — .-\rabia  and  the  Arabs — 
Nineveh — Hanging-gardens  of  Babylon — Fall  of  Babylon — Climate  of  Persia         ......  429 

INDIA. 

Hindoo  chronology — Hindoo  literature — Invasion  of  India  by  Alexander  the  Great — British  Empire  in  India — 
*'  Black  Hole  "  of  Calcutta — Lord   Clive — Warren  Hastings — Sepoy  rebellion — Massacre   at  Cawnpore — 


10  CONTENTS. 

Storming  of  Delhi — Generals  Havelock,  Outram,  and  Sir  Colin  Campbell — Fall  of  the  Mogul  Empire 
Physical  geography  of  India — Hindoo  architecture — Great  cities  of  India — The  Ganges — Hindoo  Mythology 

Juggernaut The  Thugs — Nautch  or  dancing  girls — The  Vale  of  Cashmere — Immolation  of  widows — Cash- 

merian  character  and  language 437 

CHINA. 

Vast  population  of  China — Great  Wall  of  China — Invasion  of  China  by  Kubla  Khan — Terrible  earthquake  in 
China War  between  Great  Britain  and  China — Humorous  story  of  the  American  Minister  to  China — Insur- 
rection in  China — Chinese  artificial  lakes  and  hanging-gardens — Weird  legends — Life  in  China — Chinese 
advertisements— Superstitions — Chinese  locomotion — Dwarfing  of  the  feet  by  females — Chinese  government — 
Chinese  in  California 449 

JAPAN . 

Pvcligion,  manners  and  customs  of  the  Japanese — United  States  treaty  with  Japan — The  Tycoon  and  Mikado — 
Japanese  love  of  Nature — Religion  and  mythology  of  the  Japanese — Mechanical  and  artistic  worlt — Physical 
features  of  the  Japanese — Domestic  liabits  of  the  Japanese — Kemale  fashions — Modern  civilization  .         .  45S 

AUSTRALIA. 

Geographical  position  and  history  of  Australia — Colonization  of  Australia — Van  Diemen's  Land — The  YaiTa- 
yarra — Sydney  and  Melbourne — New  South  Wales  and  Tasmania — The  first  Australian  newspaper — Dis- 
covery of  gold  at  Ballarat — Australian  gold-diggings — Burke  and  Wills  cross  the  Australian  continent — 
Markets  in  Melbourne — "  Paddy's  Market" — "  Sold  again  and  got  the  sugar" — Chinese  immigrants — Re- 
sources of  Australia — Aboriginal  inhabitants 462 

NEW    ZEALAND,    POLYNESIA,    AND    THE    MALAYSIAN 

ISLAN  DS. 

Islands  of  New  Zealand — Lake  Rothe-Mahana — The  Maoris — Gradual  extinction  of  the  Maoris — Sandwich 
islands — Decrease  in  their  population — Society  islands — Manners  of  the  natives  of  Otaheite — Fertility  of 
Java — Valley  of  poison — Upas  tree — Character  of  the  Malays        .         , 470 


ENGLAND. 


"  O  England,  model  to  thy  inward  greatness, 
Like  little  body  with  a  mighty  heart." 

'UCH  are  the  seemingly  boastful  words  with  which  Shakespeare 
apostrophizes  his  native  land.  We  say  "seemingly  boast- 
ful," for  if  ever  any  race  had  just  cause  to  be  proud  of  its 
record  it  is  that  noble  race— Kelt,  Anglo-Saxon,  Dane,  and 
Norman,  blended  and  combined — which  has  given  its  "  mighty  ' 
heart "  to  this  little  realm  of  England,  and  which,  as  constitut- 
ing the  groundwork  of  that  type  of  humanity  now  developing 
in  our  own  country,  is  destined  to  carr>'  America — mighty 
body  harmonizing  with  mighty  heart— to  a  point  of  eminence   not  hitherto 

reached  by  any  nation. 

^       ^  [ID 


12  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

England  is,  in  extent,  the  smallest  of  all  the  great  powers  of  Europe;  yet 
in  reo-ard  of  territories  and  population  dependent  on  her,  as  well  as  of  manu- 
factures, commerce,  and  wealth,  she  is  far  ahead  of  any  of  them.  The  area  of 
En<dand  and  Wales  is  58,310  square  miles,  a  little  larger  than  the  State  of 
Illinois,  yet  her  colonies  and  dependences  extend  into  every  clime  of  the 
world,  while  the  roll-call  of  her  drums  beating  rez'eiUe  for  her  soldiers  follows 
the  sun  through  all  the  twenty-four  hours  of  its  daily  course.  Queen  Victoria 
at  this  moment  rules  over  one-seventh  of  the  earth's  surface  and  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  its  population,  swaying  the  sceptre  over  a  territory  seventy  times  the 
extent  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  embracing  a  population  of  between 
three  and  four  hundred  millions  of  human  beings.  The  white  sails  of  her 
fleets  gleam  on  every  sea;  her  manufactures  find  their  way  into  every  land; 
while  her  Chaucer,  her  Shakespeare,  her  Bacon,  and  Newton,  and  Milton 
speak  to  the  cultured  intellects  of  all  the  world. 

England  constitutes  the  southern  portion  of  the  island  of  Great  Britain, 
lying  between  50°  and  56°  north  latitude  and  1°  46' east  longitude  and  5° 
45'  west.  Its  extreme  length  is  365  miles,  and  breadth  280.  The  total  popu- 
lation is  over  26,000,000. 

England  is  a  beautifully  diversified,  generally  undulating  country.  Her 
mountains  lie  in  four  distinct  groups — the  Pennine  range,  stretching  from  the 
Cheviot  hills  on  the  Scotch  border  to  the  heart  of  England  and  forming  a  kind 
of  back-bone  to  the  country;  the  Cumbrian  group  in  Cumberland  and  West- 
moreland; the  Welsh  mountains;  and  the  Highlands  of  Devon  and  Cornwall. 
The  loftiest  peak  in  England  is  Snowdon  in  the  Welsh  group,  3,570  feet  above 
sea-level.  Her  hill  and  mountain  ranges  are  generally  separated  from  each 
other  by  rich  and  smiling  valleys,  each  watered  by  its  own  stream,  which  not 
only  lends  life  and  beauty  to  the  scene,  but,  in  most  cases,  is  utilized  for  some 
of  the  manifold  purposes  of  industry.  There  are  many  fine  tracts  of  uplands, 
mainly  on  the  eastern  slope  or  versant  of  the  country.  Generally  these  are 
productive,  the  north  and  south  downs  in  Surrey,  Kent,  and  Hampshire  being 
especially  remarkable  for  their  fine  breed  of  sheep.  The  York  uplands,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  bleak  and  solitary  moors,  almost  desdtute  of  verdure  and 
foliage.  A  large  proportion  of  England  consists  of  extensive  stretches  of 
comparatively  level  land.  One  of  the  most  fertile  of  these  tracts  is  in  the 
eastern  and  southeastern  counties,  comprising  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Essex,  and 
Kent,  noted  for  the  splendid  results  attained  by  their  sciendfic  agriculturists. 
The  largest  level  plain  in  England  has  an  area  of  1,300  miles,  and  is  known 
as  the  Fenland — a  district  of  low,  marshy  soil,  traversed  by  canals  and  rivers 
well-nigh  as  sluggish.  This  marsh  country  has  been  much  reduced  within  the 
memory  of  man  by  scientific  drainino-. 

Owing  to  the  amount  of  rainfall  and  the  undulating  character  of  the  ground 
no  country  has  a  more  complete  river-system  than  England,  the  greater  rivers 


ENGLAND. 


13 


forming  harbors  and  water-ways  leading  into  the  very  heart  of  the  kingdom. 
On  the  bosom  of  these  short,  but  often  broad  and  deep  rivers,  especially  on  the 
Thames,  the  Mersey,  the  Tyne,  the  Humber,  and  the  Severn,  float  argosies 
more    numerous   and    more    richly-laden    than    sail    on    the    surface  of   any 


GEn'S  A.A-T-1W 


CATHEDRAL   OF    YORK. 


Other  streams  in  the  world.  In  addition  to  the  rivers  and  their  estuaries 
England  enjoys  many  excellent  natural  harbors,  formed  by  the  indentations 
of  its  coast;  the  sea-line,  by  reason  of  its  undulations,  reaching  a  length 
of  2,000  miles. 

No  town  in  England  is  more  than  120  miles  from  the  sea,  and  almost  every 


14 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


one  of  the  important  inland  towns  not  reached  by  river  water-ways  is  on  a 
canal.  Commencing  from  the  northeast  we  shall  enumerate  the  rivers,  with  the 
principal  towns  on  them :  The  Tync — Newcastle  (capital  of  coal-district,  large 
port),  also  Gateshead  and  South  Shields  (ship-building)  at  its  mouth  ;  the  Wear 
— Sunderland  (seaport,  ship-building),  farther  up  the  river — Durham  (fine  ca- 
thedral). Two  rivers,  the  Oiise  and  the 
Trait,  unite  to  form  the  Hmnber — 
Hull  (large  port).  The  Otise  is  formed 
of  a  congeries  of  small  Yorkshire 
streams  on  whose  banks  stand  many 
busy  towns,  notably  Leeds  (woollen) 
on  the  Aire,  and  Sheffield  (cutlery)  on 
the  Do7i.  Where  the  Ouse  first  be- 
comes navigable  stands  York  (seat  of 
an  archbishop,  with  noble  cathedral)  ; 
on  the  Trent  is  Nottingham  (lace  and 
hosiery).  South  of  the  Hiwiber  is  the 
Ya7'e — Yarmouth  (seaport),  and  farther 
south  is  the  Thames — London  (capital 
of  England,  greatest  seaport  in  the 
world)  and  Windsor  (royal  castle).  On 
the  south  coast  the  streams  are  small, 
but  several  important  towns  lie  near  their  mouths  or  on  bays,  as  Dover  (town 
nearest  France),  Brighton  (royal  marine  palace,  fashionable  watering-place), 
Portsmouth  (principal  naval  station)  ;  on  the  Itchen — Southampton  (famous 
port  for  ocean-going  steamers)  and  Winchester  (Anglo-Saxon  capital,  and 
cathedral)  ;  on  the  Exe — Exeter  (cathedral)  ;  on  the  Tamar — Plymouth  and 
Davenport  (naval  stations).  On  the  estuary  of  the  Fal  or  Vale,  in  Cornwall, 
and  close  to  the  Land's  End,  is  Falmouth,  with  one  of  the  best  harbors  in  the 
kingdom,  a  chief  rendezvous  for  fleets  and  mail-packets.  Of  this  river  and 
harbor  the  quaint  old  poet  Drayton  says : 

"  Here  Vale,  a  livelj'  flood,  her  nobler  name  that  gives 
To  Falmouth,  and  by  whom  it  famous  ever  lives. 
Whose  entrance  is  from  sea  so  intricately  wound, 
Her  haven  angled  so  about  her  barbarous  sound, 
That  in  her  quiet  bay  a  hundred  ships  may  ride. 
Yet  not  the  tallest  mast  be  of  the  tall'st  descried." 


WYCLIFFE. 


Turning  up  the  west  coast  we  come  to  the  Severn,  the  largest  river  in 
England,  on  which  stands  Cardiff,  largest  town  in  Wales,  the  capital  of  South 
Wales  coal-district;  also  the  cities  of  Gloucester,  Worcester,  and  Shrews- 
bury, all  with  cathedrals.     The  Severn  has  two  tributaries,  bearing  the  name 


ENGLAND.  15 

oi  Avon,  both  famous.     The  Lower  Avon  is  famed  as  having  received  the 
dust  of  Wickliffe,  when  his  bones  were  dug  up  and  cast  into  the  stream : 

"  The  Avon  to  the  Severn  runs,  the  Severn  to  the  sea, 
And  Wickliffe's  dust  shall  spread  abroad,  wide  as  thy  waters  be." 

On  it  stand  Bath  (fashionable  watering-place,  hot  springs),  and  Bristol,  a 
large,  busy  town  and  harbor. 

Still  more  famed  is  the  Upper  Avon,  for  upon  it  stands  the  town  of  Strat- 
ford, the  birthplace  of  the  immortal  Shakespeare.  Beautifully  has  it  been 
sung  by  an  anonymous  poet,  quoted  by  our  own  Longfellow : 

"  Flow  on,  sweet  river !  like  his  verse 
Who  lies  beneath  this  marble  hearse. 
Thy  playmate  once ; — I  see  him  now 
A  boy  with  sunshine  on  his  brow, 
And  hear  in  Stratford's  quiet  street 
The  patter  of  his  little  feet. 

"  I  see  him  by  thy  shallow  edge 
Wading  knee-deep  amid  the  sedge; 
And  lost  in  thought,  as  if  thy  stream 
Were  the  swift  river  of  a  dream. 

"  He  wonders  whitherward  it  flows ; 
And  fain  would  follow  where  it  goes. 
To  the  wide  world,  that  shall  ere  long 
Be  filled  with  his  melodious  song.  • 

"  Flow  on,  fair  stream  1     That  dream  is  o'er, 
He  stands  upon  another  shore ; 
A  vaster  river  near  him  flows. 
And  still  he  follows  where  it  goes." 

The  Wye,  another  tributary  of  the  Severn,  is  the  most  picturesque  of  the 
many  crystal  streams  of  Wales,  vying  in  beauty  with  the  English  Dove. 
Beautifully  does  the  poet,  Charles  Cotton,  apostrophize  the  latter  silver  river: 

"  O  my  beloved  nymph  !  fair  Dove  ! 
Princess  of  rivers  !  how  I  love 

Upon  thy  flowery  banks  to  lie, 
And  view  thy  silver  stream 
When  gilded  by  a  summer  beam  !  .  .  . 
Such  streams  Rome's  yellow  Tiber  cannot  show 
The  Iberian  Tagus  or  Ligurian  Po.  ... 
Nay,  Thame  and  Isis  when  conjoined  submit 
And  lay  their  trophies  at  thy  silver  feet." 


16 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


The  Eden,  one  of  England's  fairest  streams,  flows  close  to  the  Scottish 

border : 

"  Eden  !  till  now  thy  beauty  had  I  viewed 
By  glimpses  only.     Nature  gives  thee  flowers 
That  have  no  rival  among  British  bowers, 
And  thy  bold  rocks  are  worthy  of  their  fame." 


WESTM I NSTER. 


On  this  stream,  which  Wordsworth  celebrates  in  the  above  lines,  stands 
the  ancient  city  of  Carlisle  with  its  castle  and  cathedral.  In  the  old  days  of 
the  border  wars  between  the  English  and  Scots,  Carlisle  was  the  capital  of  the 
English  side,  and  many  a  stirring  tale,  tradition,  and  ballad  still  commemorate 
these  days  of  "  sturt  and  strife."  It  was  there  the  Scottish  prisoners  were 
imprisoned,  and,  in  these  iron  times,  too  frequently  "done  to  death."  In 
particular  many  of  the  unfortunate  Jacobites  that  followed  "Prince  Charlie" 
vere  executed  here,  and  their  heads  set  up  on  iron  spikes  over  the  city  gates. 
Other  towns  of  note  in  England  are  Birmingham  (centre  of  England; 
hardware  manufacture)  ;  Bradford  and  Huddersfield,  in  Yorkshire   (woollen 


ENGLAND.  17 

factories),  and  Stafford,  capital  of  Staffordshire,  or  the  Black  country  as  it  is 
called  from  its  numerous  coal  and  iron  works. 

But  the  most  romantic  and  beautiful  region  in  England  proper  is  the  lake 
district  of  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland.  The  lakes  lie  in  lone,  narrow 
valleys  or  dales  among  the  vast  mountains  which  constitute  the  Cumbrian 
group  and  render  this  region  so  grandly  sublime.  Helvellyn,  the  centre  of 
the  group,  attains  a  height  of  3,000  feet.  Of  these  beautiful  expanses  of 
water  we  specify  only  a  few  of  the  most  famed — Windermere,  Ulleswater, 
Derwentwater,  Wastwater,  Coniston,  and  the  lovely  Grasmere,  on  whose  banks 
stands  Rydal  Cottage,  the  home  of  the  poet  Wordsworth.  As  the  chosen 
home  of  the  poets  of  the  lake  school — Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Southey,  Wilson 
— no  region  has  been  so  celebrated  in  song  and  poetry  as  this  witchingly 
charming  lake  district.  It  would  be  easy  to  fill  a  volume  with  tributes  to  its 
charms.  Space  limits  us,  and  we  content  ourselves  with  quoting  the  hymns 
of  praise  of  two  of  the  favorite  "  sweet  singers  "  of  England — Felicia  Hemans 
and  Robert  Southey.  It  is  thus  that  Mrs.  Hemans  sings  of  lovely,  tranquil 
Grasmere : 

"  O  vale  and  lake,  within  your  mountain  urn 
Smiling  so  tranquilly,  and  yet  so  deep! 
Oft  doth  your  dreamy  loveliness  return, 
Coloring  the  tender  shadows  of  my  sleep 
With  light  Elysian ;  for  the  hues  that  steep 
Your  shores  in  melting  lustre  seem  to  float 
On  golden  clouds  from  spirit-lands  remote, 
Isles  of  the  blest  and  in  our  memory  keep 
Their  place  with  holiest  harmonies.     Fair  scene 
Most  loved  by  evening  and  her  dewy  star ! 
O  ne'er  may  man,  with  touch  unhallowed,  jar 
The  perfect  music  of  thy  charm  serene ! 
Still,  still  unclianged,  may  one  sweet  region  wear 
Smiles  that  subdue  the  soul  to  love,  and  tears,  and  prayer." 

The  principal  towns  in  the  lake  district  are  Kendal  and  Keswick.  We 
transcribe  Southey's  description  of  the  view  from  his  window  in  the  latter 
town.  The  time  is  that  "  sober  hour  "  when  twilight  spreads  its  mantle  o'er 
the  scene : 

"  Pensive,  though  not  in  thought,  I  stood  at  the  window,  beholding 
Mountain,  and  lake,  and  \ale ;  the  valley  disrobed  of  its  verdure; 
Derwent  retaining  yet  from  eve  a  glassy  reflexion, 
Where  his  expanded  breast,  then  still  and  smooth  as  a  mirror. 
Under  the  woods  reposed :  the  hills  that,  calm  and  majestic. 
Lifted  their  heads  in  the  silent  sky,  from  far  Glaramara, 
Bleacray  and  Maidenmour,  to  Grizedale  and  Western  Withop 


IS  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Dark  and  distinct  they  rose.  .  .  . 

In  the  West  beyond  was  the  last  pale  tint  of  the  twilight, 

Green  as  the  stream  in  the  glen  with  its  pure  and  chrysolite  waters.  .  .  . 

Earth  was  hushed  and  still ;  all  motion  and  sound  were  suspended.  .  .  . 

Only  the  voice  of  the  Greta,  heard  only  when  all  is  in  stillness. 

Pensive  I  stood  and  still :  the  hour  and  the  scene  had  subdued  me." 

Wales  is  no  less  distinguished  for  its  wild  and  picturesque  scenery — the 
romantic  beauty  of  its  glens  and  hill-gorges,  the  profusion  of  its  lonely  lakelets 
and  tarns,  and  of  crystal  streams  meandering  like  silver  threads  among  its 
mountain  masses.  It  is  thus  that  the  poet  addresses  its  sheltered  and  lovely 
Clwd,  a  river  in  North  Wales,  giving  us,  at  the  same  time,  a  fine  sketch  of  the 
scenery  through  which  it  flows  : 

"  O  Cambrian  river,  with  slow  music  gliding 

By  pastoral  hills,  old  woods,  and  ruined  towers; 

Now  midst  thy  reeds  and  golden  willows  hiding ; 
Now  gleaming  forth  by  some  rich  bank  of  flowers, 

.     .     . Thou  smooth  stream 

Art  winding  still  thy  sunny  meads  along. 

Murmuring  to  cottage  and  grey  hills  thy  song. 

Low,  sweet,  unchanged. 

What  is  likely  to  strike  a  stranger  seeing  England  for  the  first  time  is  its 
garden-like  appearance — the  almost  total  absence  of  brush  and  stronger  weeds, 
the  trim  aspect  of  its  fields  and  fences,  the  neatly  dressed  and  cleanly-kept 
hedgerows  of  fragrant  hawthorn,  and  the  evident  care  that  no  nook  shall 
escape  cultivation.  The  density  of  the  population  demands  that  every  rood 
of  land  be  cultivated,  while  the  tenant-farmer  paying  from  $6  to  $20  or  $25 
an  acre  of  yearly  rent  cannot  afford  to  let  any  of  it  lie  unproductive.  The 
magnificent  mansions  of  its  peers  and  other  proprietors,  embosomed  amid 
the  foliage  of  stately  trees  and  surrounded  by  lawns  of  velvety  smoothness, 
form  a  striking  feature  in  the  landscape ;  while  the  cozy,  home-like  dwellings 
of  its  farmers  give  an  impression  of  competence  and  comfort ;  some  of  these 
brick  structures,  interlaced  with  strong  wooden  beams,  have  a  peculiarly  pic- 
turesque appearance.  Any  one  who  saw  the  English  house  in  the  Centennial 
grounds,  Philadelphia,  has  a  good  idea  of  the  homes  of  the  minor  squires  and 
better  class  of  farmers — that  is,  of  the  yeomen  of  England. 

The  principal  cereal  crops  are  wheat,  barley,  and  oats.  Of  wheat  large 
breadths  are  raised,  the  average  yield  being  30  to  35  or  40  bushels  per  acre. 
Oats  are  grown  mainly  for  horses,  barley  for  distilling.  Notwithstanding  the 
large  yields  won  by  her  farmers,  England  cannot  feed  all  her  people,  and  has 
to  import  largely  from  this  and  other  countries.  She  cannot  even  supply  her 
children  with  the  "  roast  beef  of  old  England,"  and  again  the  United  States, 


SUMMER    SCENE    IN    ENGLAND. 


(19) 


20  '  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

Ireland,  Scotland,  etc.,  make  up  the  deficiency.  Much  of  the  land  of  England 
is  devoted  to  grazing,  and  dairy-farming  is  an  important  industry.  For 
this  industry  her  moist  and  mild  climate  is  especially  favorable,  nourishing 
her  pastures  to  a  degree  of  fertility  surpassed  only  by  that  of  "  The  Emerald 
Isle." 

The  soil  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  in  fewer  hands  than  that  of  any 
country  in  the  world,  little  over  a  quarter  of  a  million  proprietors  own- 
ing 33,000,000  acres,  or  all  the  available  land  in  England  and  Wales.  Little 
more  than  10,000  persons  own  over  two-thirds  of  the  country,  while  the 
twelve  largest  proprietors — all  peers — own  over  a  thirtieth.  A  million  and  a 
half  of  people  are  engaged  in  agriculture. 

The  condition  of  the  yeomen  of  England  used  to  be  very  enviable.  An 
ancient  rhyme  expresses  the  contempt  with  which  they  looked  down  on  the 
people  of  other  lands : 

"A  noble  of  Spain,  a  county  of  France, 
And  a  knight  of  the  North  Countrie, 
A  yeoman  of  Kent,  with  his  yearly  rent, 
Would  buy  them  out  all  three." 

This  rhyme  begins  to  lose  its  force.  The  free  importation  of  foreign  produce 
has  reduced  the  incomes  of  proprietors  and  farmers,  so  that  the  problem  of 
the  land  has  come  to  the  front  as  one  of  the  burning  questions  of  the  day. 
While  the  English  yeoman  was  thus  enviably  situated  it  was  far  otherwise  with 
his  laborers.  Poorly  housed,  poorly  fed,  poorly  clad,  poorly  educated,  their 
lot  was  hard  and  cheerless.  Taking  England  all  over,  and  allowing  for  loss 
by  broken  time,  two  and  a  half  dollars  a  week,  without  board,  is  the  average 
wage  of  the  out-door  laborer.  But  the  little  bird  that  whispered  to  Byron 
that  "by-and-by  the  people  would  be  stronger"  was  prescient  of  the  future. 
The  condition  of  the  English  agricultural  laborer  is  on  the  eve  of  becoming 
the  leading  political  problem  which  statesmen  will  have  to  face.  The  doctrine 
that  the  land  is  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  few  is  fast  becoming  obsolete.  The 
franchise  is  now  conferred  on  poor  as  well  as  on  rich,  and  the  people  are 
awakening  to  a  sense  of  their  rights  and  their  power. 

The  fisheries  are  of  great  importance,  yielding  an  annual  product  of 
$50,000,000,  and  employing  37,000  boats  and  200,000  hands.  The  herring 
fishery  takes  the  first  place,  but  the  salmon,  mackerel,  and  oyster  fisheries 
are  also  of  great  value.  English  statesmen  look  to  the  fisheries  as  the  grand 
nursery  for  the  navy. 

But  it  is  to  her  coal  and  iron  that  England  is  mainly  indebted  for  her 
manufacturing  supremacy.  Her  coal-fields  are  of  large  extent,  and  comprise 
extensive  beds  of  bituminous  coal  from  30  to  40  feet  thick.  The  principal 
deposits  are  in  Northumberland  and  Durham,  with  New  Castle  as  a  centre ; 


ENGLAND.    '  21 

in  Staffordshire ;  and  in  Glamorganshire,  South  Wales,  around  Cardiff.  In 
all,  England  has  some  4,000  collieries.  In  1883  17,000,000  tons  of  ore 
were  extracted  from  her  iron  mines,  while  her  puddling  furnaces  produced 
two  and  one-third  million  tons  of  manufactured  iron.  Nearly  600,000  persons 
are  employed  in  mining,  of  whom  450,000  are  under  ground. 

England's  textile  manufactures  employ  a  yet  larger  number  of  hands.  In 
all,  in  1881,  there  were  6,189  factories,  employing  TTJ.JO^)  actual  operatives, 
representing  2,000,000  of  persons  dependent  on  this  industry.  Of  these 
2,579  were  cotton  factories,  1,412  woollen,  and  630  worsted.  Other  textile 
factories  are  of  flax,  hemp,  jute,  silk,  and  hosiery.  Her  iron  manufactories 
employ  several  hundred  thousand  hands,  Birmingham  and  Shefifield  being  the 
great  centres  for  the  manufacture  of  hardware,  agricultural  implements,  and 
cutlery. 

In  a  great  marine  nation  ship-building  holds  an  important  place.  In  1883 
there  were  built  in  Britain  365  sailing  vessels  and  806  steamers  with  a  gross 
tonnage  of  800,000.  The  principal  yards  are  on  the  Clyde  (Scotland),  the 
Tyne,  the  Tees,  the  Mersey,  and  the  Thames. 

England  is  under  a  monarchy,  limited  by  a  Parliament  consisting  of  two 
Houses — Lords  and  Commons.  The  sovereign  has  now  little  real  influence, 
all  power  tending  more  and  more  to  centre  in  the  House  of  Commons,  which 
is  elected  by  nearly  universal  suffrage,  and  consists  of  670  members.  The 
House  of  Lords  is  a  hereditary  chamber,  excepting  that  the  two  archbishops 
and  twenty-four  of  the  bishops  have  seats  in  virtue  of  their  office.  The  heredi- 
tary peers  number  402.  The  constitution  of  this  chamber  is  now  agitating 
the  public  mind,  the  more  radical  politicians  advocating  its  abolition,  the  more 
moderate  its  reformation.  The  premier  of  the  Cabinet  is  the  most  powerful  man 
in  Britain.  Nominally  he  is  selected  by  the  sovereign  ;  in  reality  he  is  the  man 
recognized  as  the  head  of  the  party  having  the  majority  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. The  Cabinet  resigns  whenever  an  important  measure  introduced  by 
it  is  rejected  by  the  Commons,  and  a  dissolution  of  Parliament  ensues.  The 
nominal  duration  of  each  Parliament  is  seven  years ;  the  average  duration  is 
about  four.  The  electoral  districts  are  not  absolutely  equal  numerically. 
Somewhat  over  40,000  is  the  average  population  of  a  district.  All  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Cabinet  have  seats  in  Parliament. 

The  chief  universities  of  England  are  those  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  In 
them  the  students  live  in  colleges  or  halls,  and  their  education  is  conducted 
principally  by  tutors,  progress  being  tested  by  examinations.  There  are  also 
university  professors  who  lecture  to  all  students.  These  colleges  were 
founded  at  different  periods  from  the  thirteenth  down  to  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury; and  many  of  them  are  very  fine  structures,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
engraving  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  shown  at  beginning  of  this  chapter. 
In  Oxford  there  are,  in  all,  twenty-four  colleges ;  in  Cambridge,  seventeen. 


22  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

Their  endowments  are  large,  those  of  the  Oxford  colleges  for  the  year  1871 
amounting  to  ^2,065,000;  those  of  Cambridge  to  ^1,700,000.  The  students 
number  about  5,000,  and  the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church  are  largely 
trained  at  one  or  other  of  the  universities.  The  towns  themselves  possess 
little  independent  importance.  Besides  these  two  universities,  there  are  also 
those  of  London  and  Durham,  where  the  teaching  is  more  professorial. 

Episcopacy  is  the  established  religion  of  England.  The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  is  Primate  of  all  England,  the  Archbishop  of  York  being  the  next 
dignitary.  There  are  in  all  thirty  bishops.  The  question  of  maintaining  a  state 
church  is  now  being  much  agitated,  and  from  the  progress  that  democratic 
ideas  are  making  in  England,  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  per- 
sons now  living  will  see  a  dissolution  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State.  In 
England  the  Established  Church  still  ministers  to  a  majority — probably  two- 
thirds — of  the  people.  Next  to  it  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  has  the 
most  adherents,  closely  followed  by  the  Baptists.  In  Wales  the  Methodists 
are  in  the  majority,  and  in  1886  a  bill  was  submitted  to  Parliament  asking  it  to 
disendow  and  disestablish  the  English  Church  in  that  principality.  Though 
rejected  by  a  small  majority,  it  will  be  offered  again. 

The  national  debt  of  England  amounts  (in  1886)  to  5^3,782,000,000,  and  it 
has  been  proposed  to  increase  it  by  ^750,000,000  for  the  expropriation  of  Irish 
landlords.  The  annual  income  is  $445,000,000.  Of  this  nearly  a  third  is 
required  to  pay  the  interest  of  the  debt,  and  over  a  third  for  the  army  and 
navy. 

The  British  army  consists  of  200,000  men,  of  whom  60,000  are  for  India 
exclusively.  Her  reserves,  consisting  of  soldiers  honorably  discharged, 
amount  to  47,000.  Her  militia  amount  to  140,000,  and  her  volunteers — "  for 
defence,  not  defiance  " — number  over  a  quarter  of  a  million.  England  has 
thus  a  native  force  of  650,000  men.  By  the  addition  of  the  native  army  of 
India  this  is  raised  to  761,133. 

But  it  is  to 

"  The  flag  that  braved  a  thousand  years 
The  battle  and  the  breeze  " 

that  every  Englishman  looks  with  peculiar  pride.  The  navy  of  England  is 
the  most  powerful  in  the  world.  The  total  number  of  her  war-ships  is  480,  of 
which  360  are  steam-vessels,  and  120  sailing.  According  to  a  return  to  Par- 
liament in  1884,  the  actual  number  of  fighting  vessels  ready  for  sea  was  283, 
of  which  41  were  ironclads  of  the  first  and  second  class,  ranging  from  over 
3,000  to  8,000  tons  each.  The  ambition  of  the  typical  English  patriot  is  to 
have  a  navy  "  confident  against  the  world  in  arms ;  "  her  statesmen,  more 
modest,  demand  only  that  England  should  have  a  force  of  these  mailed  cham- 
pions of  the  deep  capable  of  coping  with  any  combination  likely  to  be  formed 

against  her.     To  man  her  fleet  England  has,  of  seamen  and  marines,  58,000 
2 


ENGLAND.  2S 

men,  with  a  reserve  of  21,000,  to  which  may  be  added  her  coast-guard  of 
4,000. 

We  have  thus  endeavored  to  give  our  readers  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  to- 
pography, constitution,  rehgion,  and  resources  (natural,  industrial,  and  warHke) 
of  this  famed  land.  The  question  arises:  Will  England  maintain  herself  in 
the  high  position  she  has  attained?  As  mere  narrators  it  is  not  our  business 
to  enter  deeply  into  this  question.  One  fact  is  evident.  For  over  a  century 
England  has  been  pre-eminently  the  factory  for  the  whole  world.  Her  great 
wealth  has  been  built  up  by  her  supplying  wares  to  every  land.  This  monopoly 
she  is  not  to  enjoy  longer  unchallenged.  Countries — as  our  own — which,  half 
a  century  ago  or  later,  were  her  best  customers,  are  now  manufacturing  for 
themselves,  and  striving  to  build  up  rival  industries  by  protective  tariffs.  Al- 
ready she  has  dangerous  competitors  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  Whether 
the  unquestioned  energy,  skill,  and  enterprise  of  her  people  will  enable  her  to 
surmount  the  "breakers  ahead,"  time  alone  can  determine. 

Montgomery  closes  his  fine  poem,  "A  Voyage  Round  the  World,"  with  the 
following  eloquently  patriotic  stanzas.  They  make  a  fitting  close  to  this 
branch  of  our  subject: 

"  Now  to  thee,  to  thee  I  fly, 
Fairest  isle  beneath  the  sky, 
To  my  heart  as  to  my  eye. 

"  I  have  seen  them,  one  by  one, 
Every  shore  beneath  the  sun, 
And  my  voyage  now  is  done. 

"  While  I  bid  them  all  be  blest, 
Britain  is  my  home,  my  rest ; 
Mine  own  land,  I  love  thee  best." 

We  have  no  reliable  account  of  the  island  of  Britain  anterior  to  that  given 
us  by  the  great  Roman  commander  and  historian,  Julius  Caesar,  who,  at  the 
head  of  two  legions,  invaded  the  country  in  the  year  55  before  Christ.  He 
met  with  a  people  of  the  same  race  with  the  Kelts  of  Gaul,  against  whom  he 
had  been  waging  a  war  of  conquest.  The  tribes  that  congregated  on  the  cliffs 
of  Dover  to  repel  the  Roman  invasion  were  marked  by  the  same  reckless 
bravery  and  the  same  devotion  to  their  leaders  that  continue  to  characterizej 
their  descendants.  Caesar,  on  seeing  the  white  steeps  crowned  by  these 
hordes  of  nearly  naked,  painted  barbarians,  directed  his  vessels  to  be  rowed 
to  Deal,  where  landing  was  easier.  Though  the  Kelts,  poorly  armed  with 
swords  of  soft  metal  and  wicker  shields  covered  with  hides,  were  in  no  condi- 
tion to  contend  on  equal  terms  with  the  perfecdy  armed  and  trained  legionaries 
of  Rome,  yet  so  determined  was  the  resistance  offered  that  Caesar  deemed  it 


24  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

prudent  to  retire  to  Gaul,  whence  he  returned  next  spring  at  the  head  of  five 
legions,  or  thirty  thousand  infantry  and  two  thousand  horsemen.  He  defeated 
the  Britons,  crossed  the  Thames,  took  their  chief  town,  and  on  receiving 
hostages  and  a  promise  of  tribute  (never  paid)  left  Britain  not  to  return.  In 
his  narration  of  the  worthless  conquest,  Caesar  specifically  mentions  the  ex- 
traordinary skill  the  Britons  displayed  in  the  management  of  their  war- 
chariots. 

The  condition  of  the  natives  of  Britain  at  this  time  was  that  of  barbarians. 
The  land  was  covered  with  gloomy  forests  or  spread  into  marshes,  through 
•which  prowled  the  wolf,  the  wild  boar,  and  other  savage  beasts.  The  natives 
were  split  up  into  numberless  clans  or  tribes,  and  seem  to  have  inhabited  each 
its  own  village  in  the  woods,  surrounded  by  its  defence  of  wicker-work,  con- 
sisting of  stakes  driven  into  the  ground  interlaced  with  osiers.  Tillage  was 
all  but  unknown,  the  people  subsisting  on  the  flesh  and  milk  of  their  herds  of 
half-wild  cattle,  and  on  the  produce  of  the  chase  and  fishing.  This  last  occu- 
pation they  pursued  in  boats  called  coracles,  consisting  of  a  framework  of 
wattle-work  covered  with  raw  hides. 

Their  religion  was  Druidism.  All  knowledge  was  confined  to  the  Druids, 
who  were  at  once  the  priests,  judges,  and  bards  of  their  tribes.  Even  the 
Vergobrets,  or  princes,  quailed  under  the  domination  of  these  men.  Their 
rites  were  cruel,  human  victims  being  offered  to  their  deities.  The  mistletoe 
was  regarded  with  especial  veneration,  and  at  their  yearly  festival  in  March 
the  chief  Druid,  clothed  in  white  robes,  cut,  with  a  golden  knife,  the  sacred 
plant  from  the  oak  to  which  it  clung. 

For  nearly  a  century  the  Romans  seem  to  have  forgotten  the  remote  con- 
quest, till,  in  A.  D.  43,  the  Emperor  Claudius  resolved  to  reduce  it  to  a  Roman 
province.  For  eight  years  a  brave  chief,  Caractacus,  prolonged  the  defence, 
and  even  his  defeat  and  capture  did  not  terminate  the  struggle.  At  length, 
in  62,  Suetonius,  recognizing  the  fact  that,  so  long  as  the  sway  of  the  Druids 
remained  unbroken,  conquest  was  impossible,  determined  to  extirpate  them  in 
their  chief  seat,  Mona  (the  isle  of  Anglesea),  to  which  they  had  flocked  as  a 
last  resort.  For  a  moment,  it  is  said,  even  the  Roman  soldiers  faltered  as 
they  advanced  to  the  massacre,  appalled  by  the  awful  appearance  and  solemn 
words  of  the  venerable  chief  Druid,  and  the  frantic  imprecations  of  the  priests, 
priestesses,  and  other  devotees  gathered  around  him  to  protect  him  or  die  with 
Jiim.  The  old  man,  verging  on  his  hundredth  year,  his  white  hairs  streaming 
over  his  shoulders  and  breast,  and  clad  from  head  to  foot  in  vestments  white 
as  his  tresses,  addressed  the  sacrilegious  foe  in  words  thus  grandly  voiced  by 

Mrs.  Hemans : 

"  By  the  dread  and  viewless  powers, 
Whom  the  storms  and  stars  obey. 
From  this  dark  isle's  mystic  bowers, 
Romans,  o'er  the  deep  away ! 


26  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Know  ye  Mona's  awful  spells  ? 
She  the  mighty  grave  compels 
Back  to  yield  its  fetter'd  prey. 
Fear  ye  not  the  lightning  stroke  ?  * 
Mark  ye  not  the  fiery  sky  ? 
Hence  !     Around  our  central  oak 
'  Gods  are  gathering — Romans,  fly !  " 

All  was  in  vain.  Their  doom  was  sealed.  The  sands  of  Mona  drank  th  :' 
blood  of  the  last  of  the  Druidical  priesthood ;  the  sacred  groves  and  temples 
were  levelled  to  the  ground  or  committed  to  the  flames. 

But  even  the  slauehter  of  the  Druids  did  not  terminate  all  resistance  to  the 
conquest  of  Britain.  Boadicea,  widow  of  the  chief  of  the  Iceni,  suffered  in  her 
own  person,  as  well  as  in  those  of  her  daughters,  the  grossest  outrages  from 
the  brutal  Roman  soldiery.  Stung  to  madness,.she  passed  from  tribe  to  tribe, 
rousing  them  to  frenzy  with  the  story  of  her  wrongs.  Under  her  personal 
leading  London  was  captured  and  70,000  Roman  soldiers  destroyed.  Sueto- 
nius hurried  back  from  Mona ;  a  dreadful  battle  ensued  near  London  ;  80,000 
British  warrioi%  were  slaughtered,  and  Boadicea,  in  despair,  put  an  end  to  her 
life. 

Thus  was  accomplished  the  first  conquest  of  Britain.  It  remained  for  the 
governor,  Agricola  (78  to  86),  to  consolidate  it  by  wise  administration. 
Under  him  heathenish  rites  were  renounced,  agriculture  was  introduced,  roads 
were  made,  the  metals  began  to  be  worked  systematically,  and  the  natives 
gradually  adopted  the  usages  of  the  Romans.  Among  other  works  executed 
by  him  were  two  chains  of  forts,  erected  with  the  view  of  restraining  the  bar- 
barous Picts  and  Scots  from  harassing  their  more  civilized  and  peace-loving 
brethren  of  South  Britain.  Rome  continued  in  possession  of  Britain  till  420, 
when  her  legions  were  recalled  to  defend  the  empire  against  the  incursions  of 
the  flaxen-haired  barbarians  from  the  north  of  the  Rhine.  During  her  sway, 
not  only  had  the  Britons  been  taught  the  arts  of  peace,  and  introduced  to  a 
knowledge  of  Roman  literature,  but  Christianity  had  become  the  dominant 
faith  of  the  Romanized  portion  of  the  island. 

No  sooner  were  the  Roman  legions  recalled  than  the  Picts  and  Scots, 
swarming  over  the  now  undefended  walls,  renewed  their  inroads.  In  reply  to 
a  plaintive  letter  entided  "  the  groans  of  the  Britons,"  craving  aid  from  Rome, 
the  afllicted  people  were  informed  that  henceforth  the/  must  defend  them- 
selves. Weakened  by  long  subjection,  this  they  were  unable  to  do,  and  in 
their  extremity  they  had  recourse  to  the  hardy  half-piratical  tribes  of  Low 
Germans— Saxons  and  Angles— inhabiting  the  northern  coast  of  Germany  and 
the  peninsula  of  Judand.  The  first  detachment  of  these  warlike  tribes  landed 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  in  449,  and  quickly  compelled  the  northern  ma- 
rauders to  retire  to  their  native   Highlands.     But  they  themselves  had  no 


ENGLAND.  27 

thought  of  returning  to  their  own  native  shores.  Attracted  by  the  beauty  and 
fertiHty  of  the  country,  they  coveted  possession  of  it  for  themselves,  and 
made  their  first  settlement  on  the  isle  of  Thanet.  Pretexts  for  quarrels  were 
not  difficult  to  find,  and  quickly  they  turned  their  arms  against  the  people  they 
had  come  to  protect.  The  latter,  compelled  to  fight  for  themselves,  recovered 
their  ancient  valor,  and  for  a  century  and  a  half  the  struggle  for  mastery  went 
on,  fresh  hordes  of  Germans  pouring  in  from  time  to  time  to  succor,  and  share 
with  their  brethren. 

A  great  battle  fought  near  Chester  in  607  decisively  settled  the  supremacy 
of  the  Germans  or  English.  As  each  of  their  chiefs  took  possession  of  what 
he  conquered  there  arose  seven  different  kingdoms,  known  as  the  Heptarchy, 
namely,  Kent,  Sussex,  Wessex,  Essex,  East  Anglia,  Mercia,  and  Northumber- 
land. The  Saxons  held  the  southern  part  of  England,  while  the  Angles  or 
English  tribes  occupied  all  the  north  and  east  up  to  the  Firth  of  Forth.  The 
unfortunate  Britons  were  driven  to  take  re/uge  in  the  wilds  of  Cornwall  and 
the  mountains  of  Wales,  in  which  latter  principality  their  descendants  maintain 
their  native  speech  and  cherish  some  of  their  native  bardic  usages  till  the 
present  day. 

Two  circumstances  evidence  the  thoroughness  of  this  second  conquest  of 
Britain.  Christianity,  which,  as  it  has  been  said,  supplanted  the  native  Druid- 
ism  during  the  Roman  occupation,  disappeared ;  and  the  Low  German 
dialects  of  the  invading  tribes  (which  eventually  developed  into  our  English 
speech)  entirely  superseded  the  Keltic  language  of  the  Britons.  For  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  Britain  remained  under  a  paganism  more  debasing  than  that  of 
the  Druids. 

In  597  Christianity  was  reintroduced  into  Saxon  England  by  Augustine. 
Ethelbert,  King  of  Kent,  who  had  married  a  Christian  princess  from  Paris, 
was  the  earliest  convert,  and  his  people  followed  his  example.  In  the  course 
of  a  century  all  England  was  re-won  to  the  true  faith,  only  the  names  of  the 
days  of  the  week,  and  a  few  scarcely  understood  customs,  remaining  to  re- 
mind us  that  our  English  forefathers  worshipped  the  Sun  and  Moon,  as  well  as 
the  personal  gods  Tiw,  Woden,  Thor,  Frey,  and  Saeter.* 

The  Angles  or  Engles  (Englisc  folk)  acquired  a  taste  for  literature  earlier 
than  the  Saxons,  and  to  this  are  we  to  attribute  the  fact  that  they  gave  the  name 
of  Engleland  (England)  to  the  whole  country.  It  is  to  a  priest  of  this  race — 
the  venerable  Bede — a  monk  of  Jarrow,  in  Northumberland,  in  the  eighth 
century,  that  we  are  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  early  English  history. 

*  The  story  of  the  motive  for  England's  second  conversion  is  thus  told  :  The  wars  between  the  various  tribes 
for  supremacy  filled  the  market-place  of  Rome  with  English  slaves.  Pope  Gregory  one  d.iy,  seeing  a  number  of 
fair-faced  golden-haired  children  standing  for  sale  in  the  forum,  asked  from  what  country  they  came.  He  was  told 
they  were  Angles.  "  Not  Angles  but  Angels,"  was  his  reply,  "  if  only  they  were  Christians."  The  result  was  the 
mission  of  Augustine  and  his  brother  monks,  immediately  on  Gregory's  learning  of  the  marriage  of  Ethelbert  with  a 
Christian  princess. 


28  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

The  Angles  owed  their  superior  culture  to  their  being  Christianized  by  mis- 
sionaries from  Ireland,  who  had  setded  in  lona.  Aidan,  a  disciple  of  Columba 
(the  founder  of  lona),  came  south  among  the  Angles,  on  the  invitation  of  their 
kino-,  and  founded  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne,  whence  light  and  truth  rayed 
forth  over  all  the  district.  In  these  early  days  Ireland  was  the  most  enlightened 
country  in  Europe. 

The  story  of  Caedmon,  the  earliest  English  writer,  as  told  by  Bede,  illus- 
trates the  love  of  the  Angles  for  music  and  poetry.  Born  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury he  was  originally  cowherd  of  the  monastery  of  Whitby,  and  noted  only  for 
io-norance.  When  the  domestics  used  to  assemble  in  the  evening  to  recreate 
themselves  with  song  and  music,  Caedmon  was  wont  to  steal  out  to  the  cow- 
stable  to  hide  his  shame  upon  the  harp  being  offered  to  him.  One  night 
when  he  had  thus  withdrawn  he  fell  asleep  in  the  stable-loft,  when  a  stranger 
appeared  and  commanded  him  to  sing.  "  I  cannot  sing,"  answered  Caedmon  ; 
"for  this  cause  I  left  the  feast."  "Be  that  as  it  may  you  shall  sing  to  me." 
"What  shall  I  sing?"  "The  song  of  the  creation."  In  the  morning  Caedmon 
stood  before  the  Abbess  Hilda,  and  told  his  dream  and  recited  his  song.  Ab- 
bess and  brethren  at  once  saw  that  a  miracle  had  occurred  and  Caedmon  had 
received  the  gift  of  song  from  heaven.  A  portion  of  Holy  Writ  was  trans- 
lated for  him,  and  he  was  directed  to  put  it  into  verse.  Next  morning  he  re- 
cited the  additional  verses.  The  abbess,  now  reco^nizinp-  the  divine  erace  in 
the  man,  bade  him  quit  the  secular  habit  and  take  on  him  the  monastic  life. 
Piece  by  piece  the  sacred  story  was  worked  into  Caedmon's  song,  till  it  reached 
a  bulk  equal  to  nearly  the  half  of  Paradise  Lost,  to  which  some  of  it  bears  a 
striking  resemblance. 

There  is  one  drawback  to  this  strangely  mysterious  story.  There  is  some 
evidence  that  "the  song"  was  in  existence  before  Caedmon  was  born.  If  so, 
pious  fraud  and  an  excellent  memory  raised  the  cowherd  to  what  men  call  im- 
mortality as  the  author  of  the  earliest  English  epic  poem.  Ca:;dmon  died  in 
680. 

Many  and  bitter  were  the  conflicts  waged  between  the  several  petty  kings 
of  England,  now  the  sovereign  of  one  district  striving  for  the  overlordship  of  all 
the  land ;  now,  another.  It  was  not  till  the  English  had  been  in  the  land  for 
nearly  400  years  that  it  became  consolidated  into  one  nation  under  Egbert, 
King  of  Wessex,  who  reigned  from  827  to  837.  his  chief  city,  Winchester, 
becoming  the  capital  of  England. 

No  dweller  in  this  land  of  freedom  ought  to  forget  that  It  is  to  these  old 
English  of  North  Germany  and  Judand  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  germs 
of  these  mstitutions  which  constitute  the  bulwark  of  our  liberties— notably 
for  trial  by  jury  and  our  legislative  assemblies,  whether  bearing  the  name  of 
National  Parliaments,  Congresses,  or  State  Legislatures.  Jury  trial  had  its  ori- 
gin in  the  Anglo-Saxon  local  courts  for  the  setdement  of  disputes,  consisting 


ENGLAND.  29 

of  twelve  men  presided  over  by  a  reeve,  who  had  no  voice  in  the  decisions. 
Still  more  clearly,  our  constitutional  deliberative  assemblies  have  their  root  in 
the  Witenagemote,  or  meeting  of  the  wise  men,  whose  function  it  was  to  assist 
the  chief  or  king  in  the  government  of  his  people,  and  in  the  event  of  his 
death  to  elect  a  successor  to  him,  taken  from  the  royal  family.  When  Eng- 
land became  one  nation,  this  assembly,  composed  of  Ealdormen  (Earls), Bishops, 
and  Abbots,  met  regularly  three  times  a  year,  as  also  on  special  occasions 
when  summoned.  In  addition  to  their  functions  as  counsellors  of  the  sov- 
ereign these  greater  nobles  or  Earls  were  the  judges  of  their  respective 
districts,  invested  with  the  power  of  life  and  death.  Below  them  were  the 
Thanes,  men  who  had  risen  to  the  ranks  of  the  nobility  by  personal  services 
to  the  kinof.  Next  to  these  came  the  Churls,  freemen  in  whom  we  are  to  look 
for  the  prototypes  of  the  famed  yeomen  of  England.  Last  of  all  came  the 
Serfs,  a  class  bound  to  the  soil  on  which  they  were  born.  This  lowest  class 
constituted  two-thirds  of  the  people  of  early  England. 

The  Englishman  used  to  wear  a  long  woollen  or  hempen  dress  resembling 
the  frock  yet  worn  by  English  wagoners,  and  their  legs  were  wound  round 
by  strips  of  cloth  in  lieu  of  stockings.  Their  houses  were  of  wood,  one  story, 
and  chimneyless,  a  hole  in  the  ridge  serving  for  the  escape  of  the  smoke  from 
the  fire  that  burned  directly  under  it.  The  windows  were  unglazed,  the  first 
glass  in  the  country  being  that  brought  from  Italy  for  York  Cathedral,  or,  as 
some  say,  for  Hexham  Abbey,  and  this  the  people  flocked  from  far  to  see  as 
a  p-reat  marvel.  In  case  of  storm  the  windows  were  closed  with  shutters,  in 
which  occasionally  a  piece  of  thin,  semi-translucent  horn  was  inserted,  afford- 
ing just  light  enough  to  make  darkness  visible.  At  noon  the  lord  and  lady  of 
the  house  took  their  place  at  the  head  of  the  dinner-table,  seated  on  cross- 
legged  stools,  the  family,  dependents,  and  servants  sitting  along  the  table  on 
benches.  Square  pieces  of  wood,  called  trenchers,  served  instead  of  plates,  and 
the  servants  carried  round  the  meat  on  spits,  from  which  each  one  cut  off  his 
portion  with  his  own  knife,  eating  it  without  a  fork.  The  bones  or  rejected 
pieces  were  thrown  on  the  floor,  which  in  the  better  class  of  houses  was  daily 
covered  with  fresh  rushes,  and  for  these  waifs  the  great  hunting-dogs  struggled 
and  fought.  Mead  or  ale  was  quaffed  freely,  the  lord  and  lady  drinking  from 
silver  cups,  and  pledging  the  company  with  the  words  "W^s  heal"  (wassail), 
or  "  Health  to  you,"  while  the  retainers  responded  by  elevating  their  beakers 
of  cow-horn  and  shouting  "Drinc  heal."  The  Saxons,  unlike  their  Norman 
successors,  were  gross  feeders  and  stout  drinkers,  one  of  the  chief  delights  in 
their  heathen  heaven  or  Walhalla  being  great  feasts,  with  unstinted  goblets 
of  their  favorite  mead.  But  the  Saxon  was  not  insensible  to  the  charm  of 
poetry  and  music.  The  "  gleeman  "  or  wandering  minstrel  was  often  intro- 
duced at  their  feasts,  joyously  welcomed,  and  generously  treated.  Chroniclers 
say  that  even  in  time  of  war  these  ministers  of  pleasure  were  privileged  to 
travel  securely  over  the  country  at  their  discretion. 


30  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

No  sooner  were  the  different  kingdoms  of  England  united  into  one  than  a 
new  cloud  darkened  its  horizon.  Norway  and  its  fellow  Scandinavian  king- 
doms were  at  this  time  brought  to  order  by  a  series  of  great  sovereigns,  and  the 
bolder  and  more  unruly  spirits  who  would  not  submit  to  their  rule  were  driven 
to  the  sea  and  embraced  a  life  of  piracy  and  war.  These  were  the  "  Vikings  " 
of  the  poet  and  chronicler,  the  "Danes"  of  English  history.  At  first  they 
contented  themselves  with  landing  on  the  eastern  shores  of  England,  filling 
their  long  ships  with  plunder  and  returning  to  their  strongholds  on  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic  or  North  Sea  for  the  winter.  Tempted,  like  their  Anglo-Saxon 
predecessors,  by  the  richness  and  fertility  of  the  country,  they  began  to  form 
setdements  at  various  points,  and  to  wage  war  with  the  English  of  the  interior. 
And  now  began  a  struggle  characterized  by  terrible  ferocity.  The  Danes 
regarded  the  English  as  apostates  from  the  ancient  faith  of  their  common 
ancestry,  and  religious  hate  embittered  a  conflict  between  races  stern  enough 
without  such  instigation.  It  was  at  the  commencement  of  this  gloomy  period 
that  "  the  bright,  consummate  flower  "  of  Saxon  manhood  showed  itself.  Alfred, 
commonly  known  as  Alfred  the  Great,  grandson  of  Egbert,  was  born  in  849. 
Though  youngest  of  four  sons,  he  was  chosen  to  succeed  his  brother  Ethelred 
on  the  throne,  which  he  ascended  at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  Even  before 
this  he  had  given  proof  of  his  ability  as  a  warrior  in  repelling  the  Danes,  and 
on  becoming  king  he  redoubled  his  exertions.  But  the  enemy  poured  fresh 
bands  upon  the  coast,  and  in  878  the  invaders  had  overrun  all  his  ancestral 
kingdom  of  Wessex.  Alfred,  forced  to  take  refuge  in  the  woods  and  morasses, 
found  shelter  for  a  time  in  a  cowherd's  hut.  There  it  is  said  he  was  set  by 
the  herdsman's  wife  to  watch  some  cakes  that  were  bakine  at  the  fire.  Alfred, 
intent  on  repairing  his  bow,  let  the  cakes  burn,  and  was  reproved  by  the  indignant 
matron,  with  the  remark  that  he  was  glad  enough  to  eat  them,  thou  eh  too  care- 
less  to  turn  them.  He  did  not  cease  to  keep  up  communication  with  his  friends, 
and  building  a  stronghold  on  an  elevation  amid  the  marshes  of  Somersetshire, 
still  known  as  Athelney  or  "  the  island  of  the  nobles,"  he  made  frequent  suc- 
cessful sallies  against  the  enemy.  On  one  occasion  he  introduced  himself 
into  their  camp  in  the  disguise  of  a  minstrel,  and,  after  amusing  the  unsuspi- 
cious Danes,  disappeared  as  mysteriously  as  he  came.  Putting  himself  at  the 
head  of  his  followers,  he  fell  upon  the  unguarded  camp  of  the  enemy  and 
gained  a  great  victory.  Guthrum,  their  king,  accepted  baptism,  and,  withdraw- 
ing from  Wessex,  settled  with  his  followers  in  the  east  of  England,  and  ever 
after  proved  faithful  in  his  allegiance.  To  meet  his  foes  at  sea  he  built  Eng- 
land's first  fleet,  and  on  the  arrival  of  Hastings,  the  great  sea-king,  he  hurried 
to  meet  him.  captured  his  fleet,  routed  his  army,  and  compelled  that  robber- 
chief  to  flee  to  France.  In  888  Alfred  was  recognized  as  king  of  all  England. 
During  the  ensuing  years  of  peace  he  rebuilt  ruined  cities,  erected  fortresses, 
trained  his  people  to  arms,  encouraged  husbandry  and  other  useful  arts,  and 


ENGLAND. 


31 


inaugurated  many  wise  laws  and  institutions  which  contributed  to  the  future 
greatness  of  Britain.  In  an  age  of  ignorance  he  was  a  scholar  and  patron 
of  learning,  himself  translating  several  works  from  Latin  into  Anglo-Saxon. 
He  died  in  901  at  the  age  of  fifty-two,  leaving  his  country  in  the  enjoyment  of 
peace  and  prosperity.  It  has  been  said  that  during  his  reign  gold  and  jewels 
could  be  left  unguarded  by  the  wayside  and  would  remain  untouched  by  travel-. 
Jer  or  dweller. 

It  would  carry  us  far  beyond 
our  bounds  were  we  to  enter 
into  the  details  of  the  history 
of  Alfred's  successors.  But  it 
would  be  a  sadly  defective  view 
of  these  early  times  did  we  omit 
reference  to  the  church  and  the 
part  it  played  in  English  history. 
Briefly  it  may  be  said  that  the 
monasteries  and  abbeys  with 
which  the  country  abounded 
were  the  depositories  of  all  the 
learning  of  the  time.  The  ex- 
quisitely illuminated  missals 
and  other  manuscripts,  still 
extant,  testify  to  the  devotion 
and  diliofence  of  the  monks  in 
multiplying  and  beautifying  re- 
ligious works.  But  there  was 
another  sphere  in  which  the 
clergy  played  a  great  part. 
This  was  statesmanship,  for 
which  their  superior  learning  and  shrewdness  especially  qualified  them. 
As  illustrative  of  this  phase  of  national  life  we  shall  briefly  summarize  the 
biography  of  St.  Dunstan. 

Born  of  noble  parents,  in  925,  and  having  an  uncle  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, Dunstan  was  carefully  educated  for  the  church ;  endowed  with  high 
talent,  he  became  accomplished  in  many  directions.  He  was  not  only  a  learned 
scholar,  but  he  was  also  an  excellent  composer  of  music,  a  skilled  performer 
on  several  instruments,  a  painter,  a  worker  in  design,  a  calligrapher,  a  jeweller, 
and  a  blacksmith.  Being  introduced  by  his  uncle  to  the  court  of  King  Athel- 
stan,  the  nobles,  with  true  prescience  of  his  character,  from  dread  of  his  in- 
Huence,  procured  his  expulsion  as  a  sorcerer. 

He  now  assumed  a  new  role.  He  constructed  a  cell,  partly  under  ground, 
five  feet  long  by  two  wide,  so  that  he  could  not  lie  in  it  at  full  length,  and  this 


ALFRED   THE  GREAT   IN    HIS  STUDY. 
(By  A.  Maillarc.) 


82  THE  GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

he  made  his  bed-chamber,  his  workshop,  and  oratory.  Asceticism  of  so  pre- 
eminently pious  character  naturally  stirred  the  devil  to  action,  and  he,  putting 
his  head  in  at  the  window  one  evening,  when  the  saint  was  at  work  at  his 
forcre.  attempted  to  allure  him  to  his  service  by  seductively  immoral  proposals. 
The  temptation  only  roused  the  holy  man  to  indignation,  and  parleying  only 
till  his  tongs  attained  a  white  heat,  he  seized  the  foul  fiend  with  this  imple- 
ment by  the  nose,  and  so  held  him  till  the  neighborhood  re-echoed  with  his 

yells. 

It  was  impossible,  in  such  an  age,  that  sanctity  of  this  proved  character  could 
pass  unnoticed.  On  the  accession  of  Edmund  to  the  throne  Dunstan  was 
recalled  to  court.  But  in  spite  of  his  penances  and  exploits,  in  spite  even  of 
the  odor  of  sanctity,  he  was  still  antagonized  by  the  nobles,  who  knew  his 
ambition  and  dreaded  his  talents  and  determination  of  character.  A  second 
time,  therefore,  he  was  dismissed,  but  on  this  occasion  he  was,  in  respect  of 
his  saintliness,  created  Abbot  of  Glastonbury.  Edred,  Edmund's  successor, 
showed  Dunstan  great  favor,  and  the  vigorous  policy  of  this  reign  is  ascribed 
to  the  inspiration  of  the  great  monk.  For  the  first  time  the  Danes  of  North- 
umbria  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  complete  subjugation,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  monkish  orders  were  promoted  to  great  pre-eminence  and  "power. 
After  a  reign  of  nine  years  Edred  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Edwy.  This 
prince  had  long  suspected  Dunstan  of  peculation,  and  knew  him  to  be  the 
bitter  foe  of  his  wife  Edgiva,  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  his  reign  was  to 
degrade  him  from  his  office  and  banish  him ;  while  all  his  reforms  in  the 
church  were  frustrated,  and  the  monks  expelled  from  their  monasteries. 
Dunstan  fled  to  Flanders,  narrowly  escaping  having  his  eyes  put  out  by 
officers  sent  to  seize  him  with  this  purpose.  Almost  immediately  on  his  flight 
the  Northumbrian  Danes  again  rose,  while,  shortly  thereafter,  King  Edwy's 
brother  Edgar,  a  lad  of  fifteen,  was  chosen  sovereign  of  the  districts  north  of 
the  Thames.  Dunstan  came  home  from  his  brief  exile  in  triumph.  The 
mysterious  death  of  Edwy's  beautiful  wife  Edgiva  (whom  Dunstan  hated) 
broke  that  monarch's  heart,  and  Edgar  became  King  of  all  England.  This 
boy-king  was  but  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  astute  and  determined  churchman. 
Dunstan's  opportunity  had  now  come,  and  he  quickly  showed  that  the  high 
estimate  of  his  powers  was  in  no  respect  exaggerated.  All  the  districts  of 
the  country  were  consolidated  into  union  more  compact  than  had  ever  been 
known  before  ;  the  Danes  were  again  reduced  to  subjection  and  their  kingdom 
broken  up  into  earldoms;  a  navy  was  created  to  defend  the  coast  against 
Norse  invaders ;  the  king  was  induced  to  visit  every  part  of  his  dominions 
annually,  holding  courts  of  justice  and  granting  audiences  to  his  subjects ; 
wild  beasts  were  extirpated;  the  coinage  reformed,  and  many  other  wise  meas- 
ures adopted  which  space  forbids  us  to  enumerate.  Priestlike,  Dunstan 
never  forgot  he  was  a  churchman.     Monasteries  were  founded  in  every  part 


ENGLAND.  33 

of  the  kingdom,  and  filled  with  celibate  recluses  and  endowed  till  over  a  third 
part  of  the  land  of  the  country  was  in  the  hands  of  the  church.  The  holy 
man  himself  accepted  the  highest  dignity  in  the  English  church,  namely,  the 
Archbishopric  of  Canterbury. 

On  Edgar's  death  a  struggle  took  place  for  the  successorship.  Like  the 
war-horse  of  Scripture,  Dunstan,  smelling  the  battle  from  afar,  again  rushed 
into  the  arena  of  conflict.  Partially  foiled  by  a  wicked  and  unscrupulous 
woman  who  murdered  Edward,  the  successor  preferred  by  Dunstan,  the  arch- 
bishop was  compelled  to  place  the  crown  on  the  head  of  Athelred,  whose 
claims  he  had  opposed.  His  credit  and  influence  now  declined;  even  his 
threats  of  divine  vengeance  were  treated  with  indifference.  Unable  to  bear 
up  against  the  disgrace  of  discomfiture  and  contempt,  Dunstan,  in  988,  retired 
to  his  archiepiscopal  capital,  where  he  died  of  grief. 

The  great  blot  on  Dunstan's  character  is  the  suspicion  (so  strong  as  to  be 
almost  certainty)  that  he  was  an  instigator  of,  or  consenter  to,  the  barbarities 
practised  on  Queen  Edgiva,  whose  face  was  burned  with  red-hot  irons  to  de- 
stroy her  beauty,  and  who  was  subsequently  hamstrung  and  tortured  so  that  she 
died.  The  thoughtful  reader  of  this  story  of  Dunstan  will  not  fail  to  gain  from 
it  large  insight  into  the  condition  of  England — intellectually,  morally,  and 
religiously — during  the  tenth  century. 

The  bells  that  rung  in  the  accession  of  Athelred,  "The  Redeless,"  sounded 
the  knell  of  Anglo-Saxon  supremacy.  No  sooner  was  the  strong  hand  of 
Dunstan  removed  than  the  Danish  settlers  in  the  north  renewed  hostilities, 
aided  by  fresh  bands  of  their  countrymen  who  ravaged  the  coasts'.  The  weak 
king  had  recourse  to  the  fatal  expedient  of  buying  them  off",  and  a  tax,  bearing 
the  name  of  Danegelt,  was  imposed  for  the  purpose  of  paying  them  an  annual 
tribute.  The  Danes  were  at  the  same  time  permitted  to  settle  where  they 
chose,  even  in  Wessex.  To  strengthen  himself  Athelred  married  Emma, 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  and  it  was  soon  seen  that  the  so-called 
peace  was  only  a  screen  for  treachery.  Urged  by  secret  orders  from  the  king 
the  men  of  Wessex  rose  on  St.  Brice's  day,  1002,  and  pitilessly  massacred 
the  Danes.  Among  others  killed  were  Gunhild,  sister  of  Swegn,  King  of 
Norway,  as  well  as  her  husband  and  child.  Swegn  vowed  vengeance,  and 
kept  his  vow  ruthlessly.  Through  and  through  Wessex  he  marched  at  the 
head  of  his  terrible  "  Berserkers,"  "liehtine  his  war-beacons  as  he  went,  leaving 
behind  him  only  corpses  and  the  smoke  of  burning  dwellings."  In  ten  years 
Swegn  was  master  of  all  England,  but  died  just  on  the  eve  of  his  coronation. 
Athelred  at  once  returned  from  the  court  of  his  brother-in-law,  where  he  had 
taken  refuge,  and  inspired  by  the  example  and  counsels  of  the  chivalric  Nor- 
mans conducted  himself  with  such  resolution  that  he  compelled  the  young 
Norse  king,  Cnut,  to  withdraw  to  his  native  land.  Athelred  died  in  1016, 
leaving  it  to  his  son  Edmund,  called,  from  his  hardihood,  "  Ironsides,"  to  con- 


3 


34  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

tinue  the  struggle  with  Cnut,  who  had  returned  at  the  head  of  fresh  forces. 
Well  did  the  young  Englishman  vindicate  his  surname.  He  fought  five  pitched 
battles  with  the  Danes,  and  peace  was  restored  by  an  arrangement  by  which 
Cnut  became  sovereign  of  North  England,  while  Edmund  was  king  of  all  the 
rest.  In  loi  7  Edmund  was  murdered  by  his  nobles  at  Oxford,  and  the  Danish 
or  Norse  king,  Cnut,  was  sovereign  of  all  England. 

Cnut  was  not  only  a  brave  warrior,  but  he  was  a  wise  and  thoughtful  man. 
He  married  the  Norman  Emma,  widow  of  Athelred,  and  strove,  with  success. 
to  weld  the  Danes  and  the  Anglo-Saxons  into  one  united  English  people. 
One  main  distinction  is  to  be  noted  between  the  conquest  of  England  by  the 
Danes  and  the  conquest  of  Britain  by  the  Anglo-Saxons.  The  British  Kelts 
and  the  Teutonic  Sa.xons  and  Angles  w-ere  peoples  totally  dissimilar  in  race, 
speech,  and  religion.  The  Danes  and  Anglo-Saxons  were  nearly  allied 
branches  of  the  same  stock.  So  soon  as  the  stumbling-block  of  religion  was 
removed  by  the  conversion  of  the  Danes,  the  two  races  naturally  and  easily 
coalesced.  Cnut  proved  his  title  to  be  regarded  among  the  wisest  and  best 
of  England's  kings  by  his  treatment  of  the  Christian  church.  His  Danish  pre- 
decessors had  been  merciless,  when  they  had  the  power,  in  their  destruction 
of  religious  houses,  and  the  massacre  of  their  inmates.  Cnut,  whether  from 
policy  or  conviction,  encouraged  his  people  to  unity  of  faith  with  the  Christian 
Anglo-Sa.xons,  founded  and  endowed  religious  houses,  and  even  protected 
pious  Christians  on  their  pilgrimages  to  Rome  against  the  robbers  of  the 
Alps.     Thus  did  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Danes  become  fused  into  one  people. 

There  is  no  king  of  whom  more  pleasant  stories  are  told  than  of  Cnut. 
One  cold  Candlemas-day  he  set  out  on  foot  to  attend  mass  at  Ely  Abbey. 
The  abbey  stood  on  high  ground  in  the  midst  of  a  morass,  which  was  frozen 
over.  Cnut's  attendants  hesitated  to  venture  on  the  ice  and  dissuaded  the 
king  from  attempting  to  cross.  At  length  a  jolly  countryman,  who  from  his 
plumpness  bore  the  sobriquet  of  "  The  Pudding,"  stepped  forward :  "  What ! " 
said  he,  "are  you  Christians,  and  afraid  to  go  to  God's  house  or  to  let  your 
king  go  ?  Lo,  I  will  go  before  him,  and  we  shall  pass  in  safety."  "  Where  this 
g9od  fellow  goes,  I  will  follow,"  said  Cnut,  "  so  help  me  the  Christians'  God." 
The  passage  was  made  in  safety,  and  "  The  Pudding"  was  rewarded  by  being 
made  proprietor  of  a  piece  of  land.  Whether  there  was  politic  arrangement 
in  the  matter  we  cannot  know.  In  any  case  in  these  days  of  credulity  it  had  its 
influence  in  reconciling  the  Danes  to  acceptance  of  the  Christian  faith.  The 
pleasmg  song  which  he  composed  while  rowing,  on  one  occasion,  on  the  vast 
fen  waters  surrounding  the  abbey  and  listening  to  the  monks'  even-song, 
goes  to  prove  that  his  regard  for  these  holy  men  was  sincere.  "  Merrily  sang 
the  monks  of  Ely  when  Cnut  the  king  rowed  by.  Row.  boatmen,  near  the 
land,  and  hear  we  these  monks  sing."  The  story  of  Cnut's  rebuke  to  his  fawn- 
ing courtiers,  who  professed  to  believe  he  could  control  the  winds  and  the  tides 
IS  too  well  known  to  require  recital,  ' 


BAPTISM    OF   CNUT   BY   AUGUSTINE. 


(35) 


36  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

Cnut  died,  lamented,  in  1036,  and  was  succeeded  first  by  a  son,  Harold,  and 
on  Harold's  death  by  another  son,  Harthacnut.  Both  of  the  great  man's  sons 
so  diso-usted  the  people  by  their  cruellies  and  excesses  that,  on  Harthacnut's 
death,  in  1041,  they  called  Edward  the  Confessor,  son  of  Cnut's  wife  Emma 
by  her  former  husband,  Athelred,  to  the  throne,  and  the  Anglo-Saxons  gready 
rejoiced  to  see  a  king  of  their  own  stock  once  more  sovereign  of  England. 
Edward  was,  after  all,  only  half-English,  and  he  had  been  brought  up  among 
his  mother's  relations  in  Normandy.  To  the  displeasure  of  his  people  he  sur- 
rounded himself  too  much  with  Norman  counsellors  and  courtiers.  He  had, 
however,  the  wisdom  to  select  as  his  principal  adviser  the  great  Earl  of 
Wessex,  Godwin,  son-in-law  of  Cnut,  and  the  ablest  statesman  in  the  kingdom. 
Godwin  by  his  skill  and  influence  was  able  to  maintain  peace  between  the 
jealous  English  and  the  haughty  Normans.  An  interesting  story  is  told  regard- 
ino-  the  manner  in  w:hich  Godwin  first  rose  to  distinction.  Ulf,  a  Danish  jarl, 
who  had  received  in  marriage  a  sister  of  Cnut,  after  one  of  the  batdes  with  Ed- 
mund Ironsides,  was  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  army.  He  wandered  all  one 
dark,  inclement  night,  and  in  the  morning  met  a  youth  driving  out  some  catde. 
Ulf  asked  his  name,  and  the  reply  was:  "I  am  Godwin,  son  of  Ulfnoth,  and 
you  are,  I  think,  a  Dane."  Ulf  confessed  that  he  was,  and  begged  the  young 
man  to  show  him  the  way  to  the  Severn,  where  he  expected  to  find  the  Danish 
fleet.  "The  Daae  would  be  a  fool  who  trusted  a  Saxon  for  his  guide,"  said 
the  youth  ;  "  how  know  you  I  will  not  betray  you  ?  "  "I  can  trust  _;j'o?^."  "  Ah, 
but  you  cannot  trust  the  Serfs,  who,  if  they  find  you,  and  me  guiding  you,  will 
slay  both  of  us."  Ulf  offered  the  young  man  a  golden  ring  and  redoubled  his 
entreades.  "  I  will  take  nothing  from  you,  but  I  will  lead  you  to  my  father's 
house,  and  there  you  shall  lie  hid  till  night,  when  I  will  guide  you.  "  At  night, 
when  the  two  were  setting  out,  Ulfnoth  told  Ulf  that  his  son  would  never  be 
able  to  return,  and  begged  him  to  keep  him  among  his  people  and  present 
him  to  King  Cnut.  This  was  the  foundation  of  Godwin's  greatness.  He 
married  Gydu,  sister  of  Ulf,  and  thus  was  brought  into  near  connection  with 
Cnut. 

The  story  of  Godwin's  death  as  given  by  the  Norman  chroniclers  is  no  less 
interesdng.  One  of  King  Edward's  brothers  had  been  slain,  and  there  was 
suspicion  that  Godwin  was  privy  to  it.  One  day,  when  the  king  and  Godwin 
were  feasting,  one  of  the  cup-bearers  chanced  to  make  a  false  step,  but  saved 
himself  from  falling  by  laying  hold  of  a  brother  who  ran  to  help  him.  "  See," 
said  Godwin,  "  how  one  brother  helps  another."  "  Yes,"  said  the  king,  "  so 
would  my  brother  have  helped  me,  had  he  lived."  'T  know  you  suspect  me  of 
his  death,"  replied  Godwin,  "  but  may  God  cause  this  morsel  of  bread  to  choke 
me  if  I  am  guilty  of  his  murder."  Scarcely  had  he  uttered  the  words  when 
he  fell  back,  struck  by  the  hand  of  Heaven,  his  soul  going  straight  into  the 
presence  of  his  Maker  for  judgment. 


ENGLAND. 


37 


Edward  himself  was  a  pious  man  and  a  just  ruler.  Such  was  his  sanctity 
that  his  touch  was  believed  to  cure  scrofula  or  the  "kine's  evil,"  a  belief 
that  continued  to  attach  itself  to  the  royal  family  till  the  days  of  Queen 
Anne.     A  hundred  years  after  his  death  he  was  canonized  as  a  saint. 

On  Edward's  death,  in  1066,  Harold,  son  of  the  great  Saxon  Earl  Godwin, 
was  chosen  by  the  Witenagemote  to  ascend  the  throne. 

Scarcely  had  Harold  begun  to  reign  ere  a  terrible  rival  appeared  to 
dispute  his  claim. 


NORMAN    CONQUEST. 

WILLIAM  THE  COXOUEROR.         1066— 10S7. 

A  hundred  years  before  the  date  of  which  we  now  write  a  great  band  of 
these  same  Norse  Vikings  who  had  so  long  harassed  England  appeared  in 
their  long  ships  in  the  Seine,  under  a  leader,  Rolf  or  Rollo,  and  speedily  overran 
that  district  of  France  known  then  as  Neustria,  but  later  as  Normandy.  The 
spirit  of  these  people  may  be  judged  of  by  their  conduct  when  the  French  king 
consented  to  give  up  this  fairest  portion  of  his  domain  to  the  daring  invaders, 
on  condition  that  their  chief  would  kiss  his  foot  in  token  of  vassalage.  This 
Rolf  absolutely  refused  to  do,  and  was  persuaded  with  difficulty  to  permit  one 

of  his  followers  to  kiss  the  foot  in  his  stead. 
The  proxy,  as  proud  as  his  master,  refused  to 
kneel,  but  seizino^  the  king's  foot  whilst  he  him- 
self  stood  upright,  after  performing  the  meaning- 
less act,  tossed  it  from  him  right  up,  thus  over- 
turning both  monarch  and  throne,  amid  the  rude 
laughter  of  his  companions.  Charles  and  his 
courtiers  were  in  such  dread  of  their  new  vassals 
that  they  did  not  dare  to  resent  the  insult. 

William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  claimed  the 
English  throne  on  terms  of  an  alleged  will  made 
in  his  favor  by  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  landed 
at  the  head  of  a  great  army  of  Normans  in  Oc- 
tober, 1066,  to  maintain  his  claim.  Harold, 
fresh  from  a  victory  over  the  Danes,  who  had 
renewed  their  incursions,  hurried  south  to  meet  him.  The  result  was  a  great 
batde  at  Hastings,  wherein  Harold  was  slain,  and  William  gained  a  decisive 
victory,  which  established  him  on  the  English  throne. 

William   brought  with  him  his  bard  Taillefer,  to   celebrate   the  assured 


WILL-IAM    I.   (THE   CONQUEROR). 


38  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

victory,  and  he  rode  in  front  of  the  Norman  knighthood,  as  they  charged  on 
the  English  footmen  standing  around  their  king  on  the  height  of  Senlac,  toss- 
ing his  sword  in  the  air  and  catching  it  again,  as  he  chanted  the  song  of  Roland. 
\Ve  are  unable  to  reproduce  the  strain  he  sung  after  the  battle  and  which  was 
chanted  for  long  years  after  at  the  great  feasts  in  the  royal  and  baronial  halls. 
We  give  in  place  the  lay  of  one  of  England's  greatest  martial  poets— Thomas 
'Jampbell: 

"  I  climbed  to  yon  heights  where  the  Norman  encamped  him  of  old, 
With  his  bowmen  and  knights,  and  his  banner  all  burnished  with  gold. 
At  the  conqueror's  side  there  his  minstrelsy  sat  harp  in  hand 
In  pavilion  wide  ;  and  they  chanted  the  deeds  of  Roland. 
Still  the  ramparted  ground  with  a  vision  my  fancy  inspires, 
And  I  hear  the  trump  sound,  as  it  marshalled  our  chivalry's  sires. 
On  each  turf  of  that  mead  stood  the  captors  of  England's  domains, 
That  ennobled  her  breed  and  high-mettled  the  blood  in  her  veins. 
Over  hauberk  and  helm  as  the  sun's  setting  splendor  was  thrown, 
Thence  they  looked  o'er  a  realm — and  to-morrow  beheld  it  their  own." 

These  French  Normans  were  no  longer  the  rude  sea-rovers  and  swords- 
men— the  terror  of  all  the  sea-coasts  of  Europe — that  their  ancestors  had 
been.  During  their  hundred  years  of  intercourse  with  the  more  cultured 
Franks  they  had  adopted  their  speech,  religion,  and  manners,  inspiring  every- 
thing they  borrowed  with  their  own  splendid  vitality.  They  were  indeed  the 
very  pink  of  medieval  chivalry,  the  most  warlike,  vigorous,  and  brilliant  race 
in  Europe.  They  looked  on  the  plainer  English  people  with  contempt  and 
spoiled  them  without  mercy.  The  land  was  wrested  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
earls,  and  thanes,  and  churls,  and  conferred  by  William  on  his  nobles  and 
other  followers.  In  this  we  see  the  origin  of  the  great  estates,  held  in  some 
cases  by  the  heirs  and  descendants  of  these  fortunate  favorites,  at  the  present 
day.  Normans  were  put  into  all  places  of  dignity  and  power ;  and  the  feudal 
system  was  introduced,  by  which  the  great  nobles  were  granted  almost  un- 
limited power  over  all  their  tenants,  on  condition  of  their  coming  to  the  aid  of 
the  king  in  case  of  war,  along  with  all  their  retainers.  The  larger  properties 
were  divided  into  smaller  holdings,  the  possessor  of  each  of  which  was  bound 
by  the  same  oath  to  his  over-lord  as  he  to  the  crown.  "  Hear,  my  lord," 
swore  the  vassal,  as  kneeling  bareheaded  and  without  arms  he  placed  his 
hands  within  those  of  his  superior,  "I  become  liegeman  of  yours  for  life  and 
limb  and  earthly  regard ;  and  I  will  keep  faith  and  loyalty  to  you  for  life  and 
death,  God  help  me." 

The  English— a  solid  German  people — had  litde  feeling  for  elegance  or 
art.  The  few  remains  of  their  buildings  show  these  to  have  been  strong, 
indeed,  but  tasteless.  Their  domestic  buildings  were  all  but  exclusively  of 
wood.     The  Normans  had  acquired  not  only  refinement  of  taste  but  a  good 


ENGLAND.  39 

knowledge  of  architecture.  Immediately  after  the  conquest  the  land  beo-an 
to  be  covered  with  castellated  fortresses,  fortified  with  moat  and  drawbrido-e, 
portcullis,  barbican,  and  bastion,  and  having  narrow  slit-like  windows  whence 
arrows  could  be  poured  on  an  enemy.  In  the  single  reign  of  Stephen  no  fewer 
than  1,115  of  such  castles  were  built.  Their  lords  were  petty  tyrants;  while 
their  retainers  sallied  forth  from  these  robber-holds  armed  cap-a-pie,  swords 
by  their  sides  and  lances  in  their  hands,  to  plunder  the  English  yeomen  and  bur- 
gesses at  pleasure.  No  company  of  travellers,  no  caravan  of  goods,  was  safe 
from  their  attacks.  The  poor  natives,  who  constituted  the  entire  trading  and 
industrial  community,  had  no  redress.  These  protected  bravoes  retired  with 
their  booty  into  the  strongholds  of  their  chiefs  and  laughed  their  victims  to 
scorn. 

It  is  thus  that  Crabbe,  "  Nature's  sternest  painter  but  the  best,"  celebrates 
Belvoir  Casde,  one  of  the  most  ancient  in  Britain.  On  its  site  a  mighty  chief 
of  the  Britons  built  his  hold ;  afterward  a  Saxon  lord  erected  on  it  a  cas- 
tle ;  and  last  came  the  Norman  baron.     Here  we  allow  the  poet  to  speak 

for  himself 

"A  Norman  baron,  in  succeeding  time, 
Here,  while  the  minstrel  sang  heroic  rhyme, 
In  feudal  pomp  appeared.     It  was  his  praise 
A  loftier  dome  with  happier  skill  to  raise ; 
His  halls,  still  gloomy,  yet  with  grandeur  rose ; 
Here  friends  were  feasted,  here  confined  were  foes. 
No  softening  arts  in  those  fierce  times  were  found, 
But  rival  barons  spread  their  terrors  round ; 
Each  in  the  fortress  of  his  power  secure, 
Of  foes  was  fearless  and  of  soldiers  sure ; 
And  here  the  chieftain,  for  his  prowess  praised. 
Long  held  the  castle  that  his  might  had  raised." 

Hunting  by  hawk  and  hound,  or  shooting  the  deer  with  arrows,  were 
favorite  pastimes.  Near  William's  castle  of  Winchester,  Hampshire,  lay  a 
great  stretch  of  heathy  ground,  nearly  60,000  acres  in  extent,  interspersed 
with  frequent  copses  of  beech  and  oak  and  verdant  glades  between,  a  favorite 
haunt  of  deer,  wild  boars,  and  other  game.  But  for  one  drawback  this  consti- 
tuted a  noble  hunting-ground.  It  was  peopled  by  many  a  village  and  hamlet, 
by  many  a  plain  Saxon  churl's  homestead  and  many  a  serf's  cottage.  With- 
out a  scruple  the  wretched  natives  were  driven  forth  and  their  homes  burned. 
The  entire  tract  was  converted  into  hunting-ground  under  the  name  of  the 
New  Forest — a  name  which  at  an  interval  of  800  years  it  yet  bears.  Sixty- 
five  such  forests  were  thus  created  in  England,  with  what  misery  to  the  people 
our  readers  can  judge.  The  forest  laws  were  of  terrible  severity,  the  penalty 
for  killing  a  stag  or  wild  boar  being  loss  of  the  eyes.  The  very  dogs  of  the 
dwellers  on  the  borders  of  the  forest  were  mutilated  by  having  the  balls  of 


40 


GOLDEN    TREASURY. 


their  feet  cut  out  so  that  they  could  not  follow  the  chase.     "  William,"  says  the 
Saxon  chronicle.  •'  loved  the  great  deer  as  if  he  had  been  their  lather." 

Every  effort  was  made  to  suppress  the  native  speech.  Norman-trench 
was  the  language  of  the  court,  of  law,  of  the  church,  of  literature,  and  of  the 
schools.  To  teach  English  at  school  was  a  punishable  offence.  Even  to  this 
day  Norman-French  law  phrases 
linger  in  our  law-courts.  When 
the  crier  of  an  American  court 
calls  out  on  its  opening  each 
morning,  "O  yes!  O  yes!  O 
yes !  I  declare  this  honorable 
court  now  open,"  he  is  but  re- 
peating the  old  Norman  Oyez  ! 
Oyez!  Oyez!  hear  ye!  hear 
ye !  hear  ye  ! 

Nor  must  we  forget  to  speak 
of  the  curfew.  Precisely  at  sun- 
down on  every  summer  even- 
ing, and  at  8  o'clock  in  winter, 
there  rang  out  a  peal  from  every 
church  tower  and  monastery 
steeple  in  England,  command- 
ing the  people  to  cover  their 
fires,  extinguish  every  light,  and 
retire  to  rest. 

We  have  spoken  of  the 
castles  of  the  nobles  that  now 
studded  the  land.  In  these 
the  prime  object  was  strength, 
combined  with  which  there  was 
some  degree  of  grandeur.  It  was  different  with  the  noble  Gothic  ecclesias- 
tical structures  that  now  began  to  "arise  like  exhalations"  over  all  the 
country.  The  remains  of  these  creations  of  genius  (especially  of  those  of 
centuries  somewhat  later,  whose  ornamentation  has  been  likened  to  "  frosted 
lace-work")  testify  that  with  all  his  sternness  the  Norman  had  a  true  sense 
of  the  beautiful. 

William's  death  was  characteristic.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  was 
sick,  the  King  of  France  made  a  silly  jest  on  his  corpulence.  "  Our  brother 
in  England,"  he  said,  "  is  a  long  time  lying  in  !  There  will  be  great  doings  at 
his  churching."  "When  I  get  up,"  William  said  grimly,  "I  will  go  to  mass  in 
Philip's  land,  and  will  bring  a  rich  offering  for  my  churching.  I  will  offer  a 
thousand  candles  for  my  fee :  flaming  brands  shall  they  be,  and  steel  shall  glit- 


BURIAL  OF   WILLIAM   THE  CONQUEROR. 


ENGLAND. 


41 


ter  over  the  fire  they  make."  In  fulfilment  of  this  stern  vow  William  traversed 
France,  devastating  it  with  fire  and  sword.  In  passing  through  the  town  of 
Mantes,  while  it  was  in  flames,  his  horse  stumbled  on  a  burning  brand,  and 
William  was  sorely  injured  by  being  thrown  heavily  against  the  pommel  of 
his  saddle.  He  was  borne  home  to  Rouen,  the  capital  of  his  paternal  Duchy 
of  Normandy,  to  die. 


WILLIAM    RUFUS.         1087— iioo. 

William  had  conquered  England  by  his  sword,  and  he  disposed  of  the  suc- 
cession according  to  his  pleasure.  He  left  his 
hereditary  Duchy  of  Normandy  to  his  eldest 
son  Robert,  surnamed  Curthose;  but  England 
he  gave  to  his  second  and  favorite  son  William, 
called,  from  the  color  of  his  hair,  William 
Rufus,  or  red  head. 

With  the  Normans  came  the  romance  of 
war.  But  for  them  the  Crusades,  the  first  of 
which  commenced  during  William's  reign, 
would  have  had  few  English  representatives. 
The  holy  land  had  fallen  under  the  sway  of  the 
Saracens,  who  submitted  the  pious  pilgrims  to 
the  sites  of  our  Lord's  passion  and  resurrec- 
tion to  manifold  indignities  and  injuries.  At 
length  a  returned  pilgrim,  Peter  the  Hermit, 
received  authority  from  the  pope  to  call  on 
the  princes  and  nobles  of  Christendom  to 
proceed  to  Palestine,  and  rescue  the  holy  places  from  Saracen  rule.  Forth- 
with, from  every  Christian  land,  there  issued  men  whose  high  purpose  it  was 

' '  To  chase  those  pagans  in  these  blessed  fields 
Over  whose  acres  walked  those  blessed  feet, 
Which  fourteen  hundred  years  ago  were  nailed 
For  our  advantage  on  the  blessed  cross." 

One  of  the  foremost  to  listen  to  the  summons  was  Robert  Curthose,  a  much 
less  calculating  man  than  his  brother  William.  His  weak  point  was  want  of 
money,  and  he  offered  Vo  give  his  Duchy  in  pledge  to  the  Red  King,  provided 
he  would  advance  the  needed  gold.  The  terms  were  gladly  accepted  and  a 
transaction  carried  through,  that  for  centuries  gave  the  English  sovereigns  a 
colorable  claim  to  dominion  over  French  territory. 

It  is  not  our  province  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the  expedition  on  which 
Robert  now  set  out.     It  is  only  needful  to  state  that  after  the  loss  of  incal- 


WH_I_IAM    II 


42  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

culable  lives,  Jerusalem  was  taken  and  the  kingship  offered  to  Robert.  This 
proffer  he  declined,  purposing  to  return  and  look  after  his  interests  in  Europe. 

Here  we  may  pause  for  a  moment  to  note,  that,  comparatively  fruitless  as 
this  and  all  succeeding  crusades  were  in  direct  results,  indirectly  they  con- 
tributed largely  to  the  civilization  and  culture  of  the  nations  participating  in 
them.  They  broadened  the  minds  of  men  by  opening  up  to  them  new  fields 
of  observation  ;  they  brought  nationalities  into  contact  with  each  other  and 
taught  them  to  act  in  harmonj',  or  at  least  in  concert ;  they  familiarized 
Europe  to  some  e.xtent  with  the  learning  of  the  East;  they  promoted  naviga- 
tion and  ship-building  and  extended  the  knowledge  of  astronomy.  Above  all, 
they  may  be  said  to  have  originated  and  fostered  that  spirit  of  chivalry  which 
for  centuries  was  the  main  humanizing  influence  in  these  otherwise  dark  and 
fierce  ages. 

During  Robert's  absence  in  Palestine  the  Red  King  met  his  death.  His 
end,  like  his  father's,  was  tragical.  While  hunting  in  the  New  Forest  he  was 
shot  by  an  arrow  sped  from  a  bow  discharged  by  his  friend  and  companion. 
Sir  Walter  Tyrrell,  to  whom  he  had  given  "  three  long  arrows."  Whether 
the  shot  was  designed  will  never  be  known.  This,  at  least,  is  certain,  that, 
in  expiation.  Sir  Walter  set  off  to  join  the  crusade.  Men  were  not  slack 
to  see  in  William's  fate  an  act  of  divine  retribution  for  the  depopulation  of 
the  New  Forest.  His  corpse  lay  uncared  for,  where  he  fell  at  the  foot  of  an 
oak  tree,  till  one  Purkiss,  a  charcoal-burner,  belonging  to  the  forest-hamlet 
of  Minestead,  came  by  and  lifted  it  up,  and  carried  it  in  his  rude  cart,  which 
dripped  with  the  blood  flowing  from  the  wound,  to  Winchester.  Purkiss' 
descendants  still  dwell  at  Minestead,  and  the  way  by  which  he  travelled  is 
still  called  the  King's  Lane.  The  oak  under  which  William  fell  stood  till 
1 745,  and  a  stone  now  marks  the  place. 

"A  Minestead  churl,  whose  wonted  trade 
Was  burning  charcoal  in  the  glade. 

Outstretched  amid  the  gorse 
The  monarch  found ;  and  in  his  wain 
He  raised,  and  to  St.  Swithin's  fane 

Conveyed  the  bleeding  corse. 

"And  still — so  runs  our  forest  creed — 
Flourish  the  pious  woodman's  seed, 

Even  on  the  self-same  spot: 
One  horse  and  cart,  their  little  store, 
Like  their  forefathers,  neither  more 

Nor  less,  their  children's  lot. 

"Thus  in  those  fields  the  Red  King  died 
His  father  wasted  in  his  pride, 


ENGLAND.  43 

For  it  is  God's  command, 
Who  doth  another's  birthright  rive, 
The  curse  unto  his  blood  shall  cleave. 

And  God's  own  word  shall  stand." 

Taking  advantage  of  Robert's  absence,  Henry,  the  youngest  son  of  the 
Conqueror,  now  mounted  the  throne. 


HENRY  I.    (BEAUCLERC). 


1 1 00 — II 


jo- 


Judging  from  the  character  of  the  successive  kings  of  England  one  is  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  a  really  good  man  is  one  of  the  rarest  things  in  nature. 
Henry  (surnamed  from  his  learning  Beauclerc),  the  youngest  son  of  the  Con- 
queror, was  one  of  England's  ablest  kings.  He  shielded  the  people  against 
the  exactions  of  the  nobles,  gave  them  a  charter  of  liberties,  renounced  the 

right  to  plunder  the  church,  and  conciliated 
his  people  by  marrying  the  Scotch  princess, 
Maud,  great-granddaughter  of  Edmund  Iron- 
sides, thus  uniting  the  Norman  and  Saxon 
lines.  Yet  he  was  a  grasping,  heartless, 
cold-blooded  man.  His  brother  Robert,  on 
his  return  from  Palestine,  made  an  attempt 
on  the  throne,  but  finding  the  people 
devoted  to  Henry  he  recrossed  to  France 
without  a  battle.  Several  of  the  greater 
nobles,  fretting  at  the  restrictions  Henry 
laid  upon  them,  had  favored  Robert.  Their 
estates  were  confiscated  and  parcelled  out 
among  a  lesser  nobility  of  the  king's  crea- 
tion, while  their  owners  pined  eyeless  in  noisome  dungeons. 

Robert  managed  badly  in  Normandy.  It  is  said  he  was  so  poor  that  he 
had  sometimes  to  lie  in  bed  because  he  had  no  clothes  to  wear.  Some  of 
his  nobles,  disgusted,  invited  Henry  over  to  take  the  duchy.  Henry  appeared 
in  France  at  the  head  of  an  army,  mainly  composed  of  native  English.  The 
two  brothers  met  in  battle  at  Trenchbray,  and  once  more  English  bows  and 
bills  confronted,  as  at  Hastings,  the  swords  and  lances  of  Norman  chivalry. 
The  English  gained  the  victory,  and  they  gloried  over  it  as  a  set-off  for  Hast- 
ings. Robert  was  captured,  and  lingered  twenty-eight  years  a  prisoner  in 
Cardiff  Castle.  Having  once  attempted  to  escape,  his  heardess  brother  caused 
his  eyes  to  be  burned  out  with  red-hot  irons. 

Henry's  death  was  sadder  than  that  of  either  his  father  or  brother  William. 
His  son,  William  the  Atheling,  with  a  crowd  of  nobles,  prepared  to  accom- 
pany him  on  his  return  to  England.     There  was  unbounded  festivity  on  board 


HENRY    I. 


44 


GOLDEN    TREASURY. 


the  "White  Ship,"  on  which  the  young  prince  had  embarked.  Scarcely  had 
she  cleared  the  harbor  till  she  struck  a  rock.  One  terrible  cry  rung  through 
the  silence  of  the  night  and  reached  the  ears  of  the  king.  When  morning 
came  only  the  top-mast  was  visible,  with  two  men  clinging  to  it.  One  dropped 
off  before  he  was  rescued,  and  the  only  survivor  of  all  that  jovial  crew  was  a 
poor  butcher  of  Rouen.  When  Henry  was  made  aware  of  the  fatal  truth 
he  dropt  senseless  to  the  ground,  and  rose  never  to  smile  again.     He  died 

in  II35- 

Henry  named  his  daughter,  Maude,  married  to  Geoffrey  Plantagenet, 
Earl  of  Anjou,  as  his  successor.  But  in  these  iron  days  men  did  not  take 
readily  to  a  female  sovereign,  so  Stephen  of  Blois,  grandson  of  the  Con- 
queror, seized  the  throne. 


STEPHEN   I. 

The  condidon  of  England  during  Stephen's  sway  was  appalling.  The 
great  nobles,  knowing  the  weakness  of  his  claim,  thought  they  could  do  as 
they  wished.  Baron  made  war  on  baron  ; 
travellers  were  waylaid,  and  wealthy  burgesses 
were  immured  in  dungeons  and  tortured  till 
they  yielded  up  their  wealth.  When  Stephen 
attempted  to  check  these  atrocities,  they 
turned  round  and  told  him  that  not  he,  but 
Maude  Plantagenet,  was  their  sovereign.  On 
their  invitation,  Maude  came  over,  and  a  civil 
war  ensued,  which  resulted  in  the  division  of 
the  kingdom  between  Stephen  and  Maude's 
son,  Henry.  During  the  war  "confusion  be- 
came worse  confounded."  The  land  was  a 
prey  to  disorderly  soldiery.  The  woods  were 
filled  with  oudaws,  mainly  English,  who  killed 
the  king's  deer,  preyed  on  the  Normans  and  wealthy  priests  and  burgesses, 
but  spared  their  poor  countrymen,  and  were  generous  to  the  peasantry,  often 
bestowmg  on  them  a  portion  of  their  spoils.  These  were  the  dwellers  in  the 
"merrie  green-wood,"  whom  the  old  ballad-makers  delighted  to  celebrate. 
Kobm  Hood,  the  bandit-hero  of  Sherwood  Forest,  "  the  English  ballad-singer's 
joy,  with  his  jovial  companions,  Litde  John,  Friar  Tuck,  and  their  sylvan 
mistress,  Maid  Marion,  belong,  indeed,  to  a  subsequent  reign,  but  they  were 
the  accepted  types  of  the  class. 

Stephen  lived  but  a  year  after  the  division  of  the  kingdom,  and  Henry 
Plantagenet  assumed  the  crown  without  opposition. 


STEPHEN    1. 


<n  k 


ENGLAND. 


45 


HENRY  II.   (PLANTAGENET).         1154— 1189. 

The  second  Henry  was  only  in  his  twenty-first  year  when  he  mounted  the 
throne  of  England  in  circumstances  so  perplexing.  But  he  was  of  the  stuff 
of  which  rulers  are  made — an  active,  vigorous  man  with  much  of  the  ability, 
and  many  of  the  accomplishments,  of  his  grandfather  Henry  I.  He  set  to 
work  to  educe  order  out  of  confusion,  moving  from  place  to  place  unweariedly. 

He  cleared  the  country  of  foreign  soldiery,  dis- 
mantled or  demolished  many  of  the  robber  holds 
of  the  nobility,  confirmed  a  charter  of  privileges 
to  his  people,  and,  in  the  words  of  a  historian, 
"  no  one  in  so  short  a  time  had  done  so  much 
good,  and  gained  so  much  love,  since  Alfred." 
He  established  trial  by  jur^'  on  a  more  satis- 
factory basis  than  formerly,  and  reformed  the 
judiciary  system.  Here  it  is  interesting  to  note 
some  of  the  old  modes  of  trying  suspected  or 
accused  persons.  One  was  by  ordeal,  or  sub- 
mitting the  case  to  the  judgment  of  God.  If  the 
prisoner  could  plunge  his  hand  into  boilingwater, 
or  carry  a  red-hot  bar  of  iron  a  certain  distance, 
without  exhibiting  any  scar,  he  was  pronounced 
innocent.  Sometimes  he  was  bound  hand  and 
If  he  sank  he  was  innocent ;  if  he  swam,  guilty. 
This  was  a  favorite  and  effectual  way  of  disposing  of  witches.  Another  mode 
was  trial  by  wager  of  battle.  This  mode  was  introduced  by  the  Conqueror 
and  continued  in  leral  force  till  the  reigfn  of  Georgfe  III. 

The  two  grand  events  in  Henry's  reign  was  his  conflict  with  the  church 
and  the  conquest  of  Ireland. 

Hitherto  clerics  (that  is,  all  educated  persons,  whether  in  holy  orders  or 
not)  were  subject  only  to  ecclesiastical  courts,  which  could  not  inflict  capital 
punishment.  This  was  called  benefit  of  clergy.  Henry  was  resolved  to 
amend  this.  More  than  100  murders  were  committed  in  the  early  years  of 
his  reign  by  clergy  who  suffered  no  adequate  punishment.  A  parliament  of 
nobles  and  prelates  was  convened  at  Clarendon,  which  enacted  certain  "con- 
stitutions "  or  laws,  the  most  important  of  which  were  those  limiting  and  defin- 
ing the  power  of  the  pope,  and  making  clergy  amenable  to  the  regular  secular 
courts. 

At  this  time  the  ablest  subject  in  the  kingdom  was  Thomas-a-Becket.  He 
rose  to  be  Henry's  high  chancellor  and  most  trusted  minister.  A  strangely 
romantic  tradition  associates  itself  with  Thomas-a-Becket's  birth.     It  is  told 


HENRY    II. 

foot  and  thrown  into  water. 


^  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

that  in  the  re.Vn  of  Henrv  I.  the  citizens  of  London  were  amazed  by  the  sight 
ofa  maiden  in%astern  dr'ess,  who  wandered  the  streets,  plaintively  uttenng  the 
word  "  Gilbert  "  Certain  seafaring  men  told  how  she  had  prevailed  on  them 
to  take  her  on  board  their  ship  in  a  port  of  the  Holy  Land  by  constantly  re- 
peatinc^  the  word  "  London."  The  rude  mob  pursued  her  till  she  came  to  the 
front  of  a  house  occupied  by  Gilbert-a-Becket,  who,  with  his  servant,  Richard, 
had  just  returned  from  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine.     Richard  went  out  to  the 


WAR^WICK    CASTLE. 


hunted  maiden,  who  fainted  on  seeing  him.     He  carried  her  to  the  house  of 
an  honorable  widow,  desiring  her  to  take  care  of  her  for  his  master's  sake. 

I^Ieanwhile  Gilbert-a-Becket  betook  himself  to  the  Bishop  of  London  and 
told  his  story.  He  related  how  he  and  Richard  had  been  captured  and  made 
slaves  to  a  wealthy  emir.  He  attracted  the  notice  and  gained  the  love  of  the 
chiefs  daughter,  who  offered  to  contrive  his  escape  if  he  would  make  her  his 
wife.  Gilbert  did  escape,  but  he  left  the  generous  maiden  behind.  She  left 
home,  riches,  and  father,  and  with  only  these  two  words — his  name  and  that 
of  his  city — reached  his  door.  Five  other  prelates  were  present  when  Gilbert 
told  his  story.     One,  the  Bishop  of  Chichester,  exclaimed  that  Heaven  itself 


MURDER  OF  THOMAS-A-BECKET. 


(47) 


4g  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

must  have  conducted  the  damsel.  All  united  in  urging  immediate  marriage. 
The  next  day  she  was  brought  to  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  and  was  there  baptized 
and  married.     Next  year  she  gave  birth  to  her  distinguished  son  Thomas. 

Even  on  the  supposition  that  the  story  is  entirely  accurate,  Thomas-a- 
Becket  was,  at  any  rate,  a  true-born  Englishman  on  the  father's  side,  who  was 
of  pure  Saxon  blood.  Being  the  first  of  his  race  who  had  risen  to  high  office 
since  the  conquest,  the  people  were  proud  of  him,  and  reverenced  him.  He 
himself  assumed  a  state  and  dignity  almost  regal.  In  1162  he  was  made 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  whereupon,  at  once  renouncing  his  luxurious  habits, 
he  assumed  an  austere  and  saintly  character.  He  became  the  champion  of 
the  church  and  antagonized  Henry's  endeavors  to  subordinate  it  to  law. 
Henry's  rao-e  was  terrible,  and  Becket  fled  to  France,- visiting  Rome  to  confer 
with  the  pope!  Both  the  pope  and  the  King  of  France  took  part  with  the 
archbishop.  At  length,  after  two  years,  reconciliation  was  effected,  and 
Becket  returned  to  England,  entering  Canterbury  amid  the  plaudits  of  the 
people.  Emboldened,  he  began  to  act  with  the  greatest  insolence,  and 
seemed  inclined  to  renew  the  war  with  the  king.  The  Archbishop  of  York, 
and  others  whom  Becket  had  excommunicated,  repaired  to  the  king,  who  was 
in  Normandy.  Henry  on  hearing  their  detail  of  grievances  exclaimed,  "  How 
miserably  am  I  reduced  that  I  cannot  have  rest  by  reason  of  oae  single  priest! 
Is  there  no  one  to  relieve  me?"  Four  ardent  knights  at  once  set  out  for 
Canterbury,  and  ordered  Becket  to  absolve  the  excommunicated  persons  or 
quit  the  kingdom.  Becket  defied  them,  despising  their  threats.  They  retired 
and  armed  themselves,  and  when  the  time  of  evening  service  was  come, 
backed  by  their  followers,  murdered  Becket  before  the  altar.  A  cry  of  horror 
vlent  up  from  all  Christendom.  Henry  bent  before  the  storm.  Becket  was 
canonized  under  the  tide  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  and  numerous  miracles 
were  worked  at  his  tomb,  which  for  centuries  was  a  favorite  shrine  of  pious 
pilgrims.     Thus  the  fine  old  poet  Chaucer  says : 

"And  chiefely  from  every  shire's  end 
Of  Engleland  to  Canterbury  they  wend 
The  holy  blissful  martyr  for  to  seek. 
Who  them  hath  holpen  when  that  they  were  sick." 

,  Dearly  had  Henry  to  aby  the  zeal  of  his  knights.  Humbling  himself  he 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  saint's  tomb,  alighting  from  his  horse  and  approach- 
ing It  barefoot.  The  livelong  night  he  passed  on  his  knees  at  the  shrine, 
and,  m  the  morning,  placing  a  scourge  in  the  willing  hands  of  the  monks,  he 
submitted  his  back  to  their  bitter  discipline.  Tiiis  humiliation  gained  him 
absolution,  and  as,  on  the  very  day  he  thus  prostrated  himself,  his  army  gained 
a  victory  over  the  Scots,  his  people  knew  he  was  reconciled  to  Heaven,  while 
the  sanctity  of  St.  Thomas  shone  out  clearer  than  ever. 


ENGLAND.  49 

But  a  yet  more  far-reaching  event  of  Henry's  reign  was  the  conquest  of 
Ireland,  a  conquest  whose  full  consequences  have  scarcely  been  realized  at 
the  present  day.  So  soon  as  Henry  ascended  the  throne  he  looked  with 
cupidity  toward  Ireland,  and,  so  early  as  11 56,  he  received  from  Pope  Adrian 
a  bull  authorizing  him  to  reduce  it.  Henry  bided  his  time,  Ireland  was  then 
divided  into  five  kingdoms,  Roderic,  King  of  Connaught,  being  Lord-Para- 
mount. Dermot,  King  of  Leinster,  thinking  himself  wronged  by  the  Lord- 
Paramount,  had  recourse  to  Henry  for  redress.  This  was  just  the  pretext 
Henry  desired,  but,  not  willing  to  appear  personally,  he  gave  Dermot  permis- 
sion to  apply  to  his  subjects.  He  appealed  to  Strongbow,  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
who,  on  the  promise  of  Eva,  Dermot's  only  daughter,  in  marriage  and  the 
succession  to  his  kingdom,  set  out  with  a  body  of  men  to  Dermot's  assistance. 
His  trained  men  easily  routed  the  undisciplined  Kernes  of  Ireland,  and 
Strongbow  espoused  Eva,  and  on  Dermot's  death  became  sovereign  of 
Leinster,  as  also  of  large  portions  of  the  adjoining  kingdoms,  with  Henry  as 
his  superior.  When  Roderic,  at  the  head  of  50,000  men,  besieged  Pembroke 
in  Dublin,  the  latter  put  the  untrained  rabble  to  flieht  with  ereat  slaughter. 
In  1 172  Henry  himself  came  over  and  held  his  Christmas  in  Dublin,  where, 
in  a  huge  palace  of  wicker-work,  he  entertained  the  Irish  princes  who  ac- 
knowledged themselves  his  vassals.  Ineffably  better  would  it  have  been  for 
England  had  the  "  Wild  Irishry  "  driven  Pembroke  and  his  crew  of  adventurers 
into  the  Irish  Sea.  No  such  Pandora's  box,  replete  with  woes,  was  ever 
presented  to  man  as  this  gift  of  Ireland  by  the  English  pope,  Adrian  Break- 
spear,  to  England's  king,  Henry  Plantagenet. 

Henry  could  rule  a  kingdom :  he  could  not  rule  his  own  family.  He  had 
five  sons,  and  these  unnatural  children  repeatedly  rose  against  their  father. 
In  one  attempt,  in  1 1 73,  they  were  abetted  by  William,  King  of  Scotland,  who 
invaded  England.  It  was  just  when  Henry  was  doing  penance  at  Becket's 
tomb.  King  William  was  captured  and  not  released  till  he  owned  himself 
vassal  to  the  English  crown.  It  was  on  this  acknowledcrment  that  Edward  I. 
afterwards  based  his  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of  Scotland. 

Worn  out  by  the  continued  ingratitude  and  turbulence  of  his  boys,  Henry 
retired  to  the  castle  of  Chinon,  France.  There,  after  a  treaty  of  peace  on 
account  of  their  last  rising  had  been  signed,  the  king,  who  was  sick  in  bed, 
asked  to  see  a  list  of  the  rebels  he  had  pardoned.  The  first  name  that  met 
his  eyes  was  that  of  John,  his  favorite  child.  Heart-broken  he  turned  his  face 
to  the  wall  with  these  words  :  "  Now  let  the  world  go  as  it  will,  I  am  done  with 
it. '     Thus  he  died  in  1 189.     "  Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown." 

Henry  was  not  a  faithful  husband.     He  had  a  mistress,  Rosamond  Clifford, 

named  from  her  beauty  "  The  Fair  Rosamond."     To  save  her  from  his  queen, 

Eleanor,  he  placed  her  in  a  bower  in  the  centre  of  a  maze  at  Woodstock,  to 

which  access  could  be  gained  only  by  following  a  clue  of  thread.     Eleanor 

4 


50 


THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 


got  possession  of  the  clue,  and,  threading  the  mazes  of  the  labyrinth,  came  on 
poor  Rosamond,  and  compelled  her  to  drink  a  bowl  of  poison.  The  desire  to 
avenge  the  wrongs  of  their  mother  no  doubt  instigated  Henry's  boys  to 
rebel  against  their  father. 


RICHARD   CCEUR   DE   LION. 


1 189 — 1 199. 


Henry  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart,  the  hero  of 
the  romance  of  English  history. 

The  result  of  the  first  crusade  had  been  the  capture  of  Jerusalem.  But 
the  Saracens,  under  their  great  leader  Saladin,  had  lately  recaptured  the  Holy 
City  and  all  the  rest  of  Palestine,  save  a  few  towns  on  the  coast.  A  grand 
crusade  was  organized,  and  Richard  of  England  and  Philip  of  France  agreed 
to  unite  their  forces  and  fight  in  company.  The  place  of  rendezvous  was 
Messina,  in  Sicily,  and  while  there,  Richard  espoused  the  daughter  of  the  King 
of  Navarre.     The  other  participants  in  the  crusade  were  already  in  the  Holy 


% 


wypi'.viyo 


GATHERING   OF   CRUSADERS. 


Und.  Richard's  advent  was  the  signal  for  renewed  effort.  He  knew  no  fear 
himself  and  taught  others  to  despise  it.  He  found  a  numerous  Christian 
army,  among  which  were  the  French  troops,  besieging  Acre,  while  Saladin 
was  at  hand  with  a  great  force  to  relieve  it.  Richard  captured  Acre,  and 
defeated  Saladin  at  Ascalon,  performing  miracles  of  valor,  and  was  pressing 
on  to  the  Holy  City,  when  dissensions,  instigated  by  Philip,  so  sickened 
Richard,  that,  after  making  a  peace  with  Saladin,  by  which  free  access  to  the 
Holy  Places  was  guaranteed  to  Christian  pilgrims,  he  reluctantly  turned  his 
lace  homeward. 

The  terror  of  his  name  endured  for  centuries  in  Palestine.     The  Arab 


ENGLAND. 


51 


chiefs  used  to  chide  their  starting  horses  with  the  question,  "  Dost  thou  think 
that  yonder  is  the  Malek  Rik  (King  Richard)  ?  "  The  Saracen  mother  was  wont 
to  still  her  crying  child  by  threats  that  Malek  Rik  would  take  it,  or  to  hush  it 
to  sleep  with  a  lullaby  assuring  it  that  the  terrible  Richard  would  not  get  it. 

Richard  had  made  many  enemies  in  Palestine  by  his  arrogance,  plain- 
speaking,  and  roughness.  Among  these  was  Leopold,  Duke  of  Austria,  whose 
banner  he  had  thrown  down  and  trampled  in  the  dirt.  Sailing  homeward, 
Richard  was  shipwrecked  in  the  Adriatic,  and  became  a  captive  of  this  very 
duke.  The  Emperor  of  Germany  caused  Coeur-de-Lion  to  be  given  up  to 
him  and  held  him  prisoner,  transferring  him  from  one  imperial  castle  to  an- 
other, the  object  being  to  secure  a  great 
ransom.  There  is  a  romantic  story  associ- 
ated with  Richard's  captivity.  All  tidings 
of  their  beloved  king  were  lost  to  the 
English.  One  Blondel,  a  musician  and  a 
favorite  of  Richard's,  went  from  city  to  city 
and  castle  to  castle  in  search  of  him,  long 
in  vain.  He  came  one  evening  to  a  castle 
in  which  there  lay  an  unknown  prisoner  of 
note.  Blondel  played  and  sang  the  first 
verse  of  a  song  which  he  and  Richard,  in 
happier  days,  had  composed  together. 
Forthwith  the  second  verse  sounded  out 
from  the  castle's  grated  window.  Blondel's 
mission  was  accomplished:  he  had  found 
him  whom  he  came  to  seek.  He  hurried 
home  to  England,  and  reported  the  vast  ransom  required  for  the  king's 
delivery.  The  people  grudged  no  sacrifice.  Ladies  gave  up  their  jewels, 
the  churches  melted  down  their  plate.  Richard  approached  London  amid 
a  nation's  plaudits.  On  entering  the  city  the  citizens  in  their  joy  made 
such  profuse  display  of  wealth  that  a  German  noble,  who  accompanied  him 
home,  half  bitterly  said  :  "  My  King,  had  our  master  but  dreamed  of  the  riches 
of  England,  thy  ransom  would  have  been  four  times  greater." 

When  Philip  of  France  heard  that  the  Lion-heart  was  again  free,  he  wrote 
Richard's  traitorous  brother  John,  who  had  tried  to  steal  the  kingdom  from  him  : 
"Take  care  of  yourself  for  the  devil  is  loose."  John  prepared  to  flee  ;  but,  at 
his  brother's  command,  remained,  and  on  meeting  him  threw  himself  at  his  feet. 
When  Richard  was  asked  by  his  mother  to  pardon  John  :  "  I  forgive  him," 
he  said,  "and  hope  I  shall  as  easily  forget  his  injuries  as  he  will  my  pardon." 

The  death  of  Richard  was  valiant  and  romantic  as  his  life.  His  vassal, 
the  Viscount  of  Limoges,  had  found  a  treasure  and  sent  Richard  a  part.  He 
demanded  the  whole,  and  on  his  demand  being  refused,  besieged  the  viscount's 


RICHARD   I.  (CCEUR-DE-LION). 


52 


THE  GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


castle.  One  day,  while  he  was  viewing  the  castle,  Bertrand  de  Gourdon  shot  at 
him  with  his  cross-bow  and  wounded  him  mortally.  The  castle  was  taken  and 
all  in  it  put  to  death,  save  Gourdon.  The  king  summoned  him  into  his  pres- 
ence and  asked  what  he  had  done  that  he  should  desire  to  slay  him.  "You 
killed  my  father  and  my  two  brothers,  I  have  revenged  them  ;  do  with  me  as 
you  will."  Struck  by  the  undaunted  reply,  the  king  ordered  him  a  sum  of 
money  and  his  liberty. 


KING  JOHN   LACKLAND.         (i  199— 121 6.) 
One  f^rand  event  marks  the  reign  of  this  mean  monarch.     This  was  the 


wnnmng 


from   him  of  Magna  Charta,  the  charter  of  the  English  people's 

liberties.  Thus  does  God  out  of 
seeming  evil  educe  good.  We 
shall  briefly  recite  how  this  was 
effected. 

The  heir  to  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land was  Arthur,  son  of  Rich- 
ard's next  brother  Geoffrey.  The 
boy  being  only  twelve  years  old, 
Richard  left  the  crown  to  John. 
But  when  Arthur  was  fifteen,  he 
was  encouraged  by  Philip  of 
France  to  make  war  in  support 
of  his  claim.  Being  defeated  he 
was  confined  in  a  castle  on  the 
banks  of  the  Seine  in  Normandy. 
There,  one  night,  he  was  awak- 
ened at  midnight,  and  ordered  to 
enter  a  boat  in  which  sat  the  king 
and  one  attendant.  Arthur's 
presaging  heart  foretold  him 
his  fate.  He  threw  himself 
on  his  knees  and  besf^ed 
pitifully  for  his  life.  In  the 
words  of  the  old  ballad,  it  is 
vain  "  to  bee  for  ijrace  from  a 
graceless  face."  He  was  seized 
by  the  hair  and  a  dagger  buried 
in    his    heart.     John    had    even 

brought  a  large  stone  with  him  into  the  boat,  and  weighting  the  body  with  that, 

sunk  it  in  the  Seine. 


JOHN    SWEARING   VENGEANCE  AGAINST 
THE    BARONS. 


ENGLAND.  53 

This  deed  of  barbarity  cost  John  Normandy  and  most  of  his  French  do- 
minions. PhiHp  summoned  him  to  answer  for  the  murder.  He  refused  to 
appear,  and  in  his  absence  was  condemned  to  death,  and  all  his  territories 
declared  forfeited.  Such  was  the  horror  felt  at  his  crime  that,  on  Philip  en- 
teri^ig  John's  hereditary  territory,  every  place  was  surrendered  without  a  blow, 
and  naught  of  France  was  left  to  him  save  Guienne. 

We  of  the  present  day  cannot  appreciate  what  it  was  in  the  dark  ages  for 
a  sovereign  to  strive  with  the  pope.  Into  such  a  strife  John  fell  over  the  ap- 
pointment of  an  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  pope  wisely  nominated  a  na- 
tive Englishman,  Stephen  Langton,  for  the  office.  John,  Norman  at  heart  and 
loving  none  of  the  English  race,  resisted  obstinately.  The  result  was  that  the 
land  was  laid  under  papal  interdict.  The  comforts  of  religion  were  withdrawn  ; 
the  churches  were  closed:  "no  knell  was  tolled  for  the  dead,  for  the  dead  lay 
unburied  ;  no  merry  peals  welcomed  the  bridal  procession,  for  no  couple  could 
be  joined  in  wedlock."  John  retaliated  on  the  church,  and  excommunication 
followed,  and  finally  a  papal  bull  of  deposition.  No  man  owed  the  king  duty; 
any  man  might  slay  him.  Philip  of  France  was  commissioned  to  execute  the 
pope's  decrees.  John,  craven-like,  succumbed,  for  his  people  had  fallen  from 
him,  and  on  his  knees  before  the  papal  legate  acknowledged  himself  the  pope's 
vassal  and  his  kingdom  a  fief  of  Rome. 

Black  hate  lay  in  John's  heart  towards  the  barons  who  had  failed  him  and 
used  his  extremity  to  restrain  the  too  enormous  power  of  the  crown.  Three 
years  of  outrage  on  his  part  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  The  English  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury'  read  to  the  barons  the  charter  of  Henry  I.,  and  they 
swore  on  the  altar  to  make  war  on  John  till  he  had  granted  them  one  yet  fuller. 
John  found  himself  face  to  face  with  a  people  in  arms.     He  was  in  a  deadly 

plight. 

"  The  color  of  the  king  did  come  and  go 
Between  his  purpose  and  his  conscience." 

But  the  barons  were  inexorable.  A  meeting  was  agreed  on  ;  the  time,  15th 
June,  1 215;  the  place,  the  broad,  smooth,  green  meadow  of  Runnymede,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Thames,  spreading  out  fair  and  fertile  beneath  the  heights 
of  Windsor,  crowned  by  its  ancient  castle.  There  the  Magna  Charta  was 
spread  forth  and  signed — the  great  charter  of  the  liberties  of  the  English 
people ;  in  which  the  serfs,  who  still  constituted  the  bulk  of  the  people,  were 
for  the  first  time  recoenized  as  havingr  rights.  The  original  charter  is  still 
to  be  seen,  bearing  John's  great  seal,  in  the  British  Museum. 

Next  year  John  died,  after  a  wicked  reign  of  eighteen  years. 


54 


THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 


HENRY  III. 


I2i6 — 1272. 


Henry,  John's  son,  was  only  ten  years  of  age  at  the  death  of  his  father. 
The  early  years  of  his  reign  present  few  points  of  interest.  He  grew  up 
devoid  of  the  grosser  vices  of  his  father,  but  he  had  more  of  the  southern 

troubadour  than  the  stern  northern  war- 
rior in  his  composition.  He  thought 
little  of  affairs,  and  recked  not  of  extor- 
tions, but  loved  to  indulge  extravagant 
tastes  for  splendor  and  gayety,  in  which 
his  youthful  queen  encouraged  him. 
He  loved  music,  poetry,  romance,  sculpt- 
ure, and  painting.  In  his  palace  fun, 
frolic,  songs,  pageants,  and  dancing  were 
the  order  of  the  day.  A  babel  of  lan- 
guages— Italian,  Provencal,  Gascon,  Lat- 
in, French,  English — says  the  "Came- 
os of  History"  from  which  we  quote 
— were  spoken  at  his  court.  Minstrels 
were  there  of  all  nationalities.  There  was 
Richard,  the  king's  harper,  who  had  forty 
shillings  a  year  and  a  tun  of  wine. 
There  was  Henry  of  Avranches,  the  arch-poet,  who  wrote  a  song  on  the  rus- 
ticity of  Cornishmen,  to  which  a  Cornishman,  Michael  Blampayne,  replied  by 
describing  him  as  having  "  the  legs  of  a  sparrow,  the  mouth  of  a  hare,  the  nose 
of  a  dog,  the  teeth  of  a  mule,  the  brow  of  a  calf,  the  head  of  a  bull."  There 
was  Ribault,  the  troubadour,  who  in  a  fit  of  madness  imagined  himself  rightful 
king,  and  nearly  killed  Henry  when  cutting  the  royal  bed  to  pieces  with  his 
sword,  till  secured  by  the  action  of  Margaret  Bisset,  one  of  the  queen's  ladies. 
There  was  the  half-witted  jester,  with  whom  the  king  and  his  brother  Aymer 
might  be  seen  playing  like  boys,  and  peldng  each  other  with  turf  His  palace 
was  gorgeously  decorated  with  tapestry,  paindngs,  and  sculpture.  One  piece 
of  jewelry  is  specially  mentioned — a  silver  ewer  for  perfumes,  in  the  shape  of 
a  peacock,  the  tail  set  with  precious  stones. 

There  was  soon  an  end  to  Henry's  treasures,  and  he  had  recourse  to  un- 
constitutional exactions.  Like  several  other  weak  kings,  James  I.  for  example, 
he  had  extravagant  notions  about  the  divine  right  of  kings,  believing  that 

"  Not  all  the  water  in  the  rough  rude  sea 
Can  wash  the  balm  from  an  anointed  king." 

Had  he  been  allowed  his  will  he  would  have  been  tyrannous.     One  of  his 


ENGLAND.  55 

attempts  was  to  subordinate  the  charter  to  royal  prerogative.  As  from  the 
oppression  of.  John  sprang  the  Magna  Charta,  so  from  Henry's  faithlessness 
sprang  the  English  House  of  Commons.  Upon  the  occasion  of  Henry  de- 
manding a  supply  of  money  the  clergy  deputed  the  primate  and  certain  bish- 
ops to  remonstrate  with  him.  At  the  conference,  the  charter  was  read  aloud, 
all  the  prelates  standing  with  lighted  tapers  in  their  hands.  At  the  close  of 
the  reading,  sentence  of  excommunication  was  pronounced  against  whoever 
should  violate  it,  the  tapers  being  at  the  same  moment  cast  on  the  ground  and 
extinguished,  the  primate  solemnly  saying:  "  May  the  soul  of  him  who  incurs 
this  sentence  stink  in  hell."  The  king,  laying  his  hand  on  his  heart,  replied : 
"  So  help  me  God,  I  shall  observe  and  keep  these  things  as  I  am  a  Christian 
man,  a  knight,  and  a  king  crowned  and  anointed."  Yet  no  sooner  was  the 
ceremony  over  than  the  promise  was  gone  from  his  mind. 

It  was  now  apparent  that  stronger  measures  were  needed,  and  a  confed- 
eracy of  nobles  was  formed,  with  Simon  de  Montfort,  Earl  of  Leicester,  at  the 
head.  After  sundry  negotiations  an  action  took  place  between  the  forces  of 
the  king  and  those  under  Leicester  at  Lewes,  Sussex,  in  which  the  royalists 
were  defeated  and  Prince  Edward,  Henry's  son,  taken  prisoner. 

Leicester  was  now  in  effect  sovereign  of  England,  carrying  the  king  about 
with  him,  and  making  what  regulations  he  chose  in  his  name.  In  1265  he 
directed  the  sheriffs  "  to  elect  and  return  two  knights  for  each  county,  two 
citizens  for  each  city,  and  two  burgesses  for  each  burgh  in  the  county."  This 
is  interesting  to  every  student  as  exhibiting  the  origin  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. 

Prince  Edward  at  length  escaped,  and  raised  an  army  which  met  that  of 
Leicester  at  Evesham,  in  Worcestershire,  defeating  it  with  terrible  slaughter. 
Of  all  the  barons  and  knights  in  Leicester's  army  only  ten  remained  alive,  the 
great  baron  being  struck  down  after  demanding  quarter. 

After  the  defeat  and  death  of  Leicester  all  opposition  to  royal  authority 
was  at  an  end.  Prince  Edward,  whose  nature  was  essentially  warlike,  took 
advantage  of  the  calm  to  head  a  crusade  in  the  east,  where  he  renewed  the 
fame  of  Richard  the  lion-hearted.  A  romantic  story  is  told  in  connection  with 
this  crusade.  The  Prince  of  Jaffa  professed  a  desire  to  embrace  Christianity, 
and  sent  one  day  an  envoy  to  Edward,  who  was  reclining  in  his  tent  during  the 
heat  of  the  day.  Springing  suddenly  on  the  prince  the  Saracen  attempted  to 
plunge  a  dagger  in  his  heart.  Edward  received  the  blow  on  his  arm,  and  then 
killed  the  ruffian  with  his  own  weapon.  But  the  dagger  was  poisoned,  and 
Edward  must  die  unless  the  venom  was  extracted,  and  who  would  risk  a  life 
to  save  that  of  the  heroic  prince  ?  Eleanor  of  Castile,  the  prince's  spouse,  wath 
true  wifely  devotion,  perilled  her  own  life  to  save  that  of  her  husband.  Kneel- 
ing by  the  side  of  his  couch  she  sucked  the  poison  from  the  wound.  Both 
were  spared ;  he  to  be  a  loving  husband,  she  to  be  an  honored  wife. 


50 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Henry  III.  died  after  a  reign  of  fifty-five  years.  Tliere  have  been  but  three 
Eno-lish  sovereigns  who  reigned  over  fifty  years — Henry  III.,  Edward  III., 
George  III.     Queen  Victoria  approaches  this  term. 

We  have  already  indicated  the  dawn  of  EngHsh  Hterature  in  connection 
with  Cxdmon,  Alfred,  and  the  venerable  Bede.  We  have  now  to  record  the 
dawn  of  Eno-lish  science.  Roger  Bacon,  a  monk  of  Oxford,  and  the  most 
enlightened  man  of  his  age,  flourished  during  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  He 
applied  his  learning  chiefly  to  making  useful  discoveries,  and  invented  the 
telescope,  microscope,  and  many  other  mathematical  and  astronomical  instru- 
ments ;  discovered  the  errors  in  the  calendar  and  gave  data  for  rectifying  them 
that  come  very  near  truth.  His  most  famed  discovery  is  that  of  gunpowder, 
but  he  did  not  contemplate  it  as  an  instrument  of  destruction.  Like  Galileo, 
and  other  pioneers  of  science,  he  suffered  persecution,  having  been  twice  im- 
prisoned by  the  church,  the  last  imprisonment  lasting  ten  years.  On  account 
of  his  extraordinary  knowledge  he  received  the  name  of  the  "  Doctor 
Mirabilis." 


EDWARD    LONGSHANKS. 


1272 — 1307. 


Edward,  son  of  a  weak  father,  was  one  of  England's  great  kings,  eminent 
alike  in  war  and  statesmanship. 

The  Welsh  still  regarded  themselves  as  the  rightful  owners  of  all  Eng- 
land, and  their  native  bards  sung  of  the  glories  of  the  days  of  Arthur  and  his 
round  table  and  kept  alive  the  national  spirit.     Llewellyn,  their  prince,  refused 

to  do  homage  to  Edward,  who,  marching  into 
Wales,  compelled  him  to  submit.  But  their  bards 
recalled  a  prediction  of  their  national  prophet. 
Merlin,  and  in  1282  inspired  the  people  to  rise 
against  their  rulers.  Edward,  a  second  time, 
led  a  host  into  the  mountains,  and,  Llewellyn 
having  been  slain,  finally  annexed  Wales  to 
England.  His  good  queen  had  accompanied 
him  on  the  campaign,  and  at  Caernarvon  Castle 
gave  birth  to  a  son,  called,  from  his  birthplace. 
Prince  of  Wales.  Edward  told  the  chiefs  that, 
if  they  would  come  to  Caernarvon,  he  would  give 
them  a  prince  who  never  spoke  a  word  of  any 
language  but  their  own.  They  came,  and  the 
king  descended  to  them  bearing  his  baby  in  his 
arms.  A  Welsh  nurse  was  given  the  infant,  so 
that  the  first  words  he  spoke  were  Welsh.  Thus  was  Wales  reconciled  to 
English  rule.  Ever  since,  the  heir  to  the  English  crown  bears  the  tide  of 
Prince  of  Wales. 


EDWARD    I.    (LONGSHANKS). 


58  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

Far  different  was  the  task  Edward  set  himself  when  he  endeavored  to  sub- 
jugate Scotland,  and  fortunate  was  it  for  England  that  he  failed.  This  epi- 
sode, however,  falls  more  under  Scotch  than  English  history  and  is  relegated 
thither  accordingly. 

While  occupied  with  the  attempt  to  conquer  Scodand,  Edward  lost  his 
hereditary  duchy  of  Guienne  in  France.  Some  dispute  having  arisen  about 
the  ceremony  of  doing  homage,  Edward  surrendered  the  duchy  into  the  hand? 
of  Philip,  on  the  promise  of  receiving  it  back.  Philip  once  having  got  it  into 
his  hands  would  not  restore  it,  and  Edward  was  too  busy  with  his  Scottish 
war  to  reclaim  it. 

One  of  the  worst  traits  in  Edward's  character  was  his  relentless  severity 
to  such  enemies  as  fell  into  his  power,  and  his  harshness  to  the  Jews.  The 
cruel  death  inflicted  on  Wallace,  the  Scottish  patriot-hero,  and  the  execution 
of  300  Jews,  and  the  banishment  of  16,000  from  the  country,  with  only  money 
enough  to  carry  them  abroad  (Edward  seizing  all  the  rest  of  their  property) 
are  stains  on  his  memory. 

Never  did  the  martial  spirit  of  England  rise  to  a  higher  pitch  than  under 
this  king.  Every  castle  had  its  tilting-yard,  where  the  young  men  practised 
all  the  exercises  and  manoeuvres  of  war  and  chivalry.  Riding  at  the  ring  and 
mock  combats  were  of  daily  occurrence.  But  the  tournament,  in  which  fair 
ladies  looked  on,  while  knights  rode  against  each  other  with  sharpened  lances, 
was  the  crowning  spectacle.  A  smile  and  a  scarf  bestowed  by  the  Queen  of 
Beauty  was  held  ample  guerdon  for  risk  of  life  and  limb.  These  meetings 
were  usually  proclaimed  for  a  long  time  beforehand  that  knights  from  a  dis- 
tance might  be  able  to  attend.  Kings  and  princes,  queens,  and  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  the  nobles  were  among  the  spectators.  Sometimes  the  combat 
was  "a  I'outrance,"  or  to  the  death  of  one  of  the  combatants.  The  yeomen 
and  common  people  had  their  sports  also,  among  which  may  be  specified 
archery,  foot- ball,  leaping,  vaulting,  and  the  like  athletic  exercises.  About 
Christmas  time  mummers  used  to  go  about  in  quaint  disguises  dancing  and 
capering  to  the  sound  of  pipe  and  tabor.  Bull-baiting  and  bear-baiting  were 
later  enjoyments, 

EDW^ARD    II.         1307— 1327. 

The  reign  of  this  sovereign  is  little  more  than  a  detail  of  follies  on  the 
part  of  the  king  and  violence  on  that  of  his  nobles.  He  was  much  un- 
der the  influence  of  favorites.  In  the  beginninor  of  his  reien  a  worthless 
person,  named  Gaveston,  occupied  this  position.  Twice  was  he  expelled  the 
kingdom  by  the  nobles,  whom  his  insolence  and  sneers  had  irritated.  On 
makmg  his  reappearance  a  third  time  he  was  seized  and  carried  to  Warwick 
Castle.    There  it  was  debated  what  should  be  do-.ie  with  him.    A  single  remark 


ENGLAND. 


59 


by  a  noble  sealed  his  doom  :  "  You  have  caught  the  fox  :  if  you  let  him  go,  you 
will  have  to  hunt  him  again."  He  was  forthwith  carried  to  a  height  by  the 
banks  of  the  pleasant  Avon  and  beheaded. 

While  Edward  and  his  nobles  were  wasting  time  in  fruitless  strife,  Robert 
Bruce,  now  King  of  Scotland,  was  capturing  one  strong  place  after  another. 
Finally,  on  the  24th  day  of  June,  1314,  was  fought  the  decisive  battle  of  Ban- 
nockburn,  in  which  the  English  were  utterly  routed.  This  battle  secured  the 
independence  of  Scotland. 

The  remaining  days  of  Edward  were  miserable  indeed.  He  fell  under 
the  influence  of  new  favorites  (father  and  son,  named  Spenser),  who  ulti- 
mately shared  the  fate  of  Gaveston.  His  wife  deserted  him  and  went  with  her 
son,  Edward,  to  the  court  of  her  brother  Charles,  King  of  France.  There  she 
formed  an  attachment  for  Roger  Mortimer,  who  had  fled  to  France  to  escape 

punishmentfor  his  enmity  to  the  Spensers. 
She  arranged  a  marriaofe  between  her 
son,  Edward,  and  Philippa,  daughter  of 
William,  Count  of  Hainault — one  of  the 
few  redeeming  events  of  this  dismal 
reign.  Furnished  with  troops  by  Wil- 
liam, she  returned  to  England  and  raised 
the  standard  of  revolt,  with  the  object 
of  gaining  supremacy  for  herself  and 
Mortimer.  The  king  fled,  but  being 
shipwrecked  near  Swansea,  surrendered 
and  was  hurried  to  a  felon's  prison  in 
Berkeley  Castle. 

In  1327  Parliament  declared  the 
crown  vacant,  and  young  Edward  was 
crowned,  with  the  title  of  Edward  III. 
One  autumn  night  shrieks  of  anguish 
rang  out  from  the  gloomy  walls  of  Berkeley  Castle.  Next  morning  the 
citizens  of  Bristol  were  invited  to  come  and  behold  the  body  of  the  unhappy 
second  Edward.  No  outward  marks  of  violence  were  seen,  but  the  features 
were  distorted  as  if  with  agony.  'No  one  doubted  that  Mortimer  was  the 
author  of  his  death,  and  that  it  was  produced  by  introducing  a  red-hot  iron, 
through  a  tube,  into  his  intestines. 

This  reien  is  notable  as  beinsr  the  first  in  which  Parliament  asserted  its 
right  to  depose  an  unworthy  king. 


EDWARD    II. 


r50 


GOLDEN    TREASURY, 


EDWARD   III.    (of  Windsor).         1327— i 377- 

Edward  was  fourteen  years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the  throne,  and  had 
one  of  the  longest  and  most  brilliant  reigns  in  the  history  of  England.  The 
various  characters  of  the  English  sovereigns  constitute  a  strange  comment  on 
the  doctrine  of  heredity.  Some  of  her  worst  kings  were  sons  of  worthy  sires  ; 
some  of  her  greatest  the  offsprings  of  weak  and  worthless  fathers.  Of  the 
latter  class  was  the  third  Edward. 

A  council  of  nobles  was  appointed  to  administer  the  government  during 
the  king's  minority.  Practically  the  queen  and  her  favorite,  Mortimer,  held 
the  government  in  their  hands.     Mortimer's  insolence  exceeded  that  of  the 


THE  TOWER  OF   LONDON. 


Gavestons  and  Spensers  and  drew  on  him  the  hate  of  the  nobles.  The  Scots, 
under  the  powerful  Earl  of  Douglas,  began  that  system  of  border  warfare 
which  harassed  England  down  till  the  union.  The  young  king  raised  an  army 
and  went  to  meet  the  marauders,  but  his  heavy-armed  soldiers  were  little  fit  to 
cope  with  the  light-armed  and  well-mounted  Scottish  moss-troopers.  Edward 
was  forced  to  retire  from  lack  of  supplies,  and  the  result  was  the  treaty  of 
Northampton,  signed  in  1328,  in  which  the  independence  of  Scodand  was 
fully  acknowledged. 

Already  galled  by  Mortimer's  arrogance,  the   proud   barons,  ill  able  to 


ENGLAND. 


61 


Stomach  this  new  humiliation  which  they  ascribed  to  him,  determined  to  rid 
themselves  of  him.  The  king  readily  entered  into  their  schemes,  and,  being 
now  eighteen  years  of  age,  took  the  government  into  his  own  hands.  A  Par- 
liament was  summoned  at  Nottingham,  and  Mortimer  and  the  queen  took  up 
their  abode  in  the  castle.  One  night  the  king  and  a  party  of  friends  gained 
entrance  into  Mortimer's  chamber  by  a  secret  passage.  The  queen  heard 
]the  door  burst  open,  and  called  out  from  her  bed  in  an  adjoining  apartment: 

"  Sweet  son !  Fair  son !  Spare  my 
noble  Mortimer."  In  vain.  He  was 
made  prisoner,  tried  by  Parliament, 
condemned  for  the  murder  of  the  late 
king,  and  hanged  at  Tyburn. 

As  Edward  I.  was  called  "  Hammer 
of  the  Scots,"  the  third  Edward  might, 
with  equal  justice,  be  termed  the 
"  Hammer  of  the  French." 

Believing  himself  to  be  rightful  heir 
to  the  French  throne  on  grounds  which 
will  be  better  shown  under  the  histor)' 
of  France,  and  irritated  at  the  French 
kine  on  account  of  the  countenance  he 
showed  to  his  enemies  of  Scotland, 
Edward  determined  to  enforce  his 
claim,  and  his  people  supported  him 
with  enthusiasm.  Thus  began  the 
hundred  years  of  war  with  France,  which,  glorious  as  it  was  to  England's 
courage  and  prowess,  ended  in  her  losing  all  her  dominions  in  France  save 
the  single  city  of  Calais. 

England  won  her  first  great  sea-fight  off  Sluys  (1340),  King  Edward  sitting 
on  board  his  ship  in  a  black  velvet  dress,  while  his  hardy  sailors  showed  the 
mettle  which  was  in  the  future  to  characterize  the  Jack  Tars  of  Britannia.  It 
was  probably  here  that  warlike  use  was  first  made  of  Roger  Bacon's  dis- 
covery. 

This  defeat  was  so  unexpected  that  no  one  durst  tell  King  Philip  ot  it.  At 
last  the  court  jester  was  prevailed  on  to  break  the  news  to  him  in  his  own 
way.  "Ah,  what  dastardly  cowards  these  English  are !  "  said  the  fool,  in 
Philip's  hearing.  "  How  so  ?  "  asked  the  king.  "  Because  at  Sluys  they  dared 
not  jump  into  the  sea,  as  our  brave  men  have  done."  The  king  demanded  an 
explanation,  and  learned  from  his  courtiers  the  disastrous  story. 

The  earliest  conflict  in  this  great  war  was  Crecy  (August,  1346),  where 
Edward,  called,  from  the  color  of  his  armor,  the  Black  Prince,  won  his  spurs, 
at  the  age  of  sixteen.     The  grand  distinction  between  the  armies  of  England 


EDWARD    ni. 


^2  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

and  France  was  that  the  Enghsh  army  was  composed  mainly  of  yeomen — men 
athletic,  well  fed,  drilled  to  warlike  exercises,  enthusiastically  loyal,  and  the 
finest  archers  in  the  world ;  while  the  armies  of  France  were  still  those  of  the 
Middle  Ao-es,  made  up  of  mailed  knights  and  hordes  of  ill-fed,  despised,  and 
untrained  serfs.  It  is  thus  we  are  to  account  for  the  facility  with  which  small 
English  armies  put  to  flight  great  French  hosts.  At  Cre^y  the  English  were 
but  thirty  thousand  strong,  while  the  French  were  four  times  as  numerous,  yet 
young  Edward  did  not  hesitate  to  offer  it  batde.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  the 
famed  Genoese  cross-bowmen  and  the  English  archers  encountered  each  other, 
to  the  total  discomfiture  of  the  former.  The  battle  is  thus  graphically  de- 
scribed in  "  Cameos  of  the  History  of  England,"  a  work  we  have  already 
acknowledged  our  obligations  to.  After  telling  us  that  the  English,  after  par- 
taking of  dinner,  sat  down  in  order,  sheltering  themselves  from  die  rain  that 
was  falling,  with  their  bows  beside  them  carefully  protected,  while  the  Genoese, 
who  had  marched  eighteen  miles,  were  ordered,  on  arriving  on  the  ground,  at 
once  to  begin  the  batde,  it  goes  on  to  say  that,  on  the  approach  of  the  latter, 
"  the  English  yeomen  quietly  rose  up,  each  man  in  his  place,  so  that  as  they 
stood  their  battalions  took  the  form  of  a  harrow,  in  squares  like  a  chess-board. 
Each  donned  his  steel  cap,  and  drew  his  bowstring  from  the  case  where  it  had 
been  kept  dry.  The  Genoese  '  leapt  forward  with  a  fell  cry,'  hoping  to  frighten 
their  enemies  ;  finding  the  English  stood  still,  they  hooted  again  and  came 
forward ;  then  with  a  third  cry  discharged  such  of  their  cross-bows  as  were  not 
too  wet  to  use.  Then  came  the  arrows  from  the  2,000  long  bows,  piercing 
heads,  arms,  and  through  cuirasses;  and,  minsjied  with  these,  came  laree  balls 
of  iron,  propelled  from  the  hill  above  with  sounds  like  the  retreating  thun- 
der of  the  storm,  doing  deadly  execution,  and  terrifying  men  and  horses.  The 
Genoese  gave  back,  but  behind  them  were  the  brilliant  and  impatient  knights 
of  France  'who  burned  to  be  down  upon  the  English.'  But  when  they  came 
within  the  flight  of  these  deadly  shafts  they  brooked  them  as  litde  as  did  the 
Genoese ;  their  horses  capered  and  curveted  and  became  unmanageable,  and 
the  wild  Welshmen  rushing  down  with  their  knives  killed  them  in  great  num- 
ber." On  their  flight  the  first  English  line-of-batde,  led  by  the  prince,  was 
charged  by  a  large  body  of  cavalry  under  the  French  king,  who  broke  through 
the  archers,  and  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  trembling  for  the  boy,  despatched  a 
knight  to  the  king — who  was  watching  the  fight  from  the  top  of  a  windmill — 
to  solicit  him  to  send  aid  to  his  son.  "Is  my  son  hurt?"  asked  the  hardy 
veteran.  "  No,  sire,  but  hard-pressed."  "Tell  him  he  shall  have  no  aid  from 
me:  let  the  boy  win  his  spurs."  The  result  was  the  total  overthrow  of  the 
French.  John,  the  blind  King  of  Bohemia,  who  fought  on  the  French  side, 
was  slain,  and  his  coat  of  arms  (crest  three  ostrich  feathers,  motto  Ich  dien)  has 
ever  since  been  borne  by  the  heir  apparent  to  the  English  throne. 

The  subsequent   events  of  this  struggle  belong  rather  to   French  than 


ENGLAND.  63 

English  history.  Immediately  after  the  victory  of  Cregy  Edward  captured 
Calais,  which  remained  English  for  mote  than  two  hundred  years.  The  noble 
devotion  of  its  six  burghers,  who  offered  their  own  lives  in  ransom  for  those 
of  the  garrison  and  citizens,  and  the  generous  intervention  of  Queen  Philippa, 
who  on  her  knees  supplicated  their  lives  from  the  king,  will  be  detailed  in  its 
proper  place.  After  Cre^y  the  young  prince  conquered  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  south  of  France,  where  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life.  During  the. 
siege  of  Calais,  England  was  invaded  by  David,  King  of  Scots,  who,  beino- 
defeated  at  Neville's  Cross,  was  taken  prisoner.  In  1356  took  place  the 
famous  fight  at  Poictiers,  between  the  Black  Prince  and  King  John  of  France, 
wherein  the  disparity  of  numbers  was  still  greater  than  at  Creepy,  and  the 
victory  yet  more  decisive,  the  French  king  being  captured.  Thus  two  kings 
were  prisoners  in  England  at  the  same  time.  The  treatment  of  both  captives 
was  generous  and  chivalric.  Both  were  magnificently  entertained  at  the  newly- 
built  castle  of  Windsor,  and  a  grand  tournament  was  held  in  their  honor, 
in  which  both  exhibited  their  knightly  attainments.  After  a  captivity  of 
eleven  years,  David  of  Scotland  was  ransomed.  Terms  had  been  previously 
arranged  for  the  ransom  of  John,  but  on  his  returning  to  France  his  nobles 
made  difficulties  about  raising  the  money,  whereupon  the  king,  saying,  "  If 
honor  were  banished  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  she  should  find  an  abode 
in  the  heart  of  kings,"  turned  his  face  from  them  and  went  back  to  his  cap- 
tivity in  England,  where  he  died  eight  years  after  Poictiers. 

The  gallant  Black  Prince  was  induced  to  enter  Spain  on  behalf  of  Peter 
the  Cruel  of  Castile,  against  whom  his  subjects  had  revolted.  He  fought 
bravely  as  ever,  but  Peter  shamelessly  broke  his  engagements.  The  prince 
returned  to  France  in  deep  decline  and  bankrupt,  and  shortly  died.  The  Eng- 
lish provinces  being  left  without  a  defender,  were  speedily,  one  after  another, 
recovered  by  the  French.      His  father  survived  the  prince  but  a  few  months. 

The  reign  of  Edward  was  notable  for  many  things  besides  feats  of  war. 

The  stately  palace  of  Windsor  was  built,  every  county  being  required  to 
furnish  a  rated  number  of  masons,  carpenters,  etc.  The  noble  Order  of  the 
Garter  was  instituted.  At  a  ball  the  garter  chanced  to  drop  from  the  stocking 
of  the  Countess  of  Salisbury.  The  king  courteously  picked  it  up  and  gal- 
lantly bound  it  on  his  own  leg.  Seeing  the  courtiers  smile,  he  uttered  the 
words  which  became  the  motto  of  the  order:  "  Honi  soit  qui  mal  y  pense" 
(Shame  be  to  him  who  thinks  ill  thereof) — a  terse  commentary  on  the  text:- 
"To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure."  This  seemingly  trivial  circumstance  was 
the  occasion  of  founding  the  noblest  of  all  England's  orders  of  knighthood. 
The  first  institution  of  twenty-six  knights,  consisting  of  nobles  of  the  highest 
rank  in  England,  was  celebrated  at  Windsor  in  1344,  on  the  day  sacred  to  St. 
George,  the  patron  saint  of  England,  and  within  St.  George's  chapel  at  Wind- 
sor Castle,  then  rising  into  glory  and  beauty  under  the  hands  of  the  skilful 


64 


GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


architect,  William  of  Wykeham,  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Three  hundred  ladies, 
attired  in  blue  velvet  mantles  and  the  crimson  kirtle  of  the  order,  graced  the  im- 
posing ceremony.  Every  knight  had  a  historic  name.  At  the  head  stood  the 
king  himself,  and  next  him  the  gallant  Black  Prince;  the  remaining  twenty- 
four  knights  following  in  order.  Each  wore  the  silken  garter  at  his  knee,  the 
"  robe  of  heavenly  blue,"  a  kirde  of  crimson,  and  on  the  left  shoulder  the  cross 
of  St.  George ;  each  as  admitted  swore  to  fight  for  God,  St.  George,  and  the 
kintr;  and  each  hung  his  banner,  rich  with  armorial  bearings,  over  the  stall  in 
the  chapel  where  he  knelt  and  joined  in  the  prayers  day  by  day  offered  up  for 
the  "  Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Garter."     The  number  of  knights  was  after- 


WINDSOR  CASTLE   FROM    THE   RIVER. 


wards  raised  to  forty,  and  the  order  is  still  the  highest  honor  in  the  power  of 
the  English  crown  to  bestow.  One  decoration  alone  contends  with  "  the  Gar- 
ter "  for  pre-eminence  in  the  eyes  of  England's  bravest  warriors.  This  is  the 
simple  Victoria  cross,  conferred  for  personal  prowess  on  great  commanders 
and  simple  privates  alike.  Ever  since  the  conquest  Latin  had  been  the 
language  of  literature  and  the  church,  French  that  of  the  court  and  of  law, 
while  the  yeomen  and  peasantry  held  to  the  English  tongue  of  their  fathers. 
Now  all  the  people— Britons,  Anglo-Saxons,  Anglo-Danes,  and  Normans- 
were  becoming  amalgamated  and  blended  into  one  English  people,  and  Eng- 
lish was  becoming,  accordingly,  the  national  speech.     By  the  end  of  the  reign  i' 


CHAUCER:   CHARACTERISTIC   SCENES  OF   HIS  TIME. 


(Qi) 


b6  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

was  taught  in  the  schools,  and  in  1375  a  statute  was  passed  enacting  its  use 
in  courts  of  law.     The  methods  of  war  were  changed.     Hitherto  the  main 
reliance  had  been  on  knights  armed  cap-a-pie.     Wallace  and  Bruce  had  taught 
England  the  value  of  foot-soldiers,  and  Cre^y  and  Poictiers  were  won  by  small 
armies  mainly  composed  of  her  unrivalled  yeomen-archers.     Roger  Bacon's 
new  explosive,  gunpowder,  was  first  used  for  artillery  purposes  in  this  reign. 
Hitherto  Parliament  had  consisted  of  but  one  house.     It  was  now  divided  into 
two,  the  peers  and  prelates  constituting  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people,  the  House  of  Commons,  where  they  could  deliberate  and 
resolve  unawed  by  barons  and  church  dignitaries.     We  have  here,  then,  the 
origin  of  that  branch  of  Parliament  which  really  sways  the  destinies  of  Eng- 
land.    This  reien  saw  the  risintr  of  the  "  Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation," 
John  Wickliffe,  whose  influence  on  the  future  of  England,  intellectually,  socially, 
and  spiritually  cannot  be  overestimated.    Although  much  of  his  work  falls  under 
a  subsequent  reign,  for  the  sake  of  connection  we  give  a  very  brief  view  of  it 
as  a  whole  here.     Born  in  Yorkshire,  in  1324,  he  studied  in  Oxford  for  the 
priesthood.     Taking  his  degree  in  1363,  he  began  forthwith  to  read  lectures 
on   divinity  in   which   anti-popish    views  were    first  expounded.     Appointed 
parish  priest  of  Lutterworth,  Leicestershire,  in   1374,  he  continued    his  life- 
work  of  opposition  to  the  papacy.     In  the  struggle  maintained  by  Edward 
and  his  Parliament  against  papal  aggression,  he  supported  the  king  powerfully 
with  his  pen,  denouncing  the  pope  as  "Antichrist."     Persecution  followed,  but 
all  hostile  proceedings  only  served  to  make  him  a  more  thorough  reformer. 
In  1378  he  entered  on  his  great  work  of  translating  the  Scriptures  into  Eng- 
lish, and  circulating  them  among  the  people,  with  the  result  of  not  only  en- 
lightening them  spiritually,  but  also  of  powerfully  advancing  the  spread  of  the 
English  language.     The  seed  he  sowed  soon  brought  forth  fruit.     The  Lol- 
lards, as  his  disciples  were  called,  were  found  not  only  among  the  poor  but  in 
the  church,  the  castle,  and  even  on  the  throne.     His  work  done,  he  died,  worn 
out  with  toil  and  harassment,  in  1384.     "  Being  dead,  he  yet  speaketh." 

To  this  and  the  succeeding  reign  belongs  also  Geoffrey  Chaucer,  the 
"Father  of  English  poetry."  Born  in  1324,  evidendy  of  genrie  blood,  he  is 
said  to  have  studied  both  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  He  was  attached  to 
the  court,  and  m  1359  was  with  the  army  of  invasion  in  France,  where  he  was 
captured.  Ransomed  by  the  king,  he  married  one  of  the  ladies  of  the  chamber 
of  the  queen.  Later  he  held  several  appointments  of  honor  and  profit,  and  in 
1 386  sat  in  Parliament  as  one  of  the  knights  of  the  shire  of  Kent.  He  was 
author  of  numerous  poetical  works,  but  the  "  Canterbury  Tales,"  wherein  are 
seen  "all  that  sdrring  and  gaily  apparelled  time,  as  in  some  magic  mirror," 
form  the  durable  monument  to  his  memory.  "  He  was  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  the  first  of  the  illustrious  file  of  poets  whose  ashes  rest  in  that  great 
national  sanctuary." 


ENGLAND.  67 

In  this  reign  the  wages  of  a  workingman  was  but  three  pence  a  day,  yet  in 
some  respects  he  was  better  off  than  his  modern  representative,  for  this  sum 
would  purchase  as  much  meat  as  four  shilHngs  or  a  dollar  now.  His  cottao-e 
presented  a  degree  of  plenty  and  cheerfulness  not  met  with  at  present  amono- 
the  agricultural  laborers.  Performances,  called  Mysteries  and  Miracle  plays, 
in  which  the  subjects  were  taken  from  the  legends  of  the  saints,  Scripture  his- 
tory, and  the  passion  of  our  Lord,  were  often  given,  generally  by  travellings 
actors.  The  court-yards  of  most  great  houses  had  galleries  round  them,  for 
convenience  in  witnessing  these  exhibitions.  Of  tournaments  and  other  amuse- 
ments we  have  already  spoken.  The  best  houses  of  the  towns-people  were 
rough  wooden  buildings  with  latticed  windows,  and  their  bedsteads  were  closed 
like  a  child's  crib.  The  shops  or  stores  were  stalls  or  booths  covered,  and 
ranged  in  rows  along  the  streets,  like  the  stalls  in  some  of  our  older  markets. 
The  principal  manufacture  was  woollen,  England  being  famous  for  the  abun- 
dance and  excellence  of  its  wool.  Bakers,  brewers,  dyers,  and  weavers  were 
almost  all  women.  Learning  had  as  yet  made  little  progress  beyond  the 
church  and  the  cloister,  for  Edward  was  long  dead  ere  Wickliffe's  translation 
appeared  to  arouse  the  people  with  a  thirst  for  reading. 

We  have  been  thus  comparatively  minute  in  regard  to  the  leading  events 
and  characteristics  of  this  reign  as  we  regard  it  as  the  transition  period  be- 
tween the  Middle  Ages  and  modern  times.  New  institutions  were  inau- 
gurated; new  modes  of  thought  and  new  ideas  were  born  and  disseminated. 
Medievalism  is  behind  us :  the  England  of  to-day  begins  to  take  shape. 


RICHARD   IL         1377— 1399. 

Richard  was  son  of  the  Black  Prince  and  no  sovereign  ever  ascended  the 
throne  of  whom  greater  things  were  expected.  He  verified  the  remark  we 
have  already  made,  that  some  of  the  weakest  kings  were  sons  of  great  fathers. 

But  great  events  often  distinguish  weak  reigns.  Richard's  reign  is  mem- 
orable for  the  fact  that  in  it  commenced,  in  overt  form,  that  struggle  which  in 
one  shape  or  another  has  continued  unabated  to  the  present  day — the 
struggle,  namely,  of  poverty  against  wealth,  of  natural  right  against  privilege, 
of  the  oppressed  against  the  oppressor ;  in  short,  of  labor  against  capital. 

"  Freedom's  battle  once  begun, 
Bequeathed  from  bleeding  sire  to  son, 
Though  baffled  oft  is  ever  won." 

A  poll-tax  of  a  shilling  a  head  (equal  to  sixteen  times  that  amount  now)  was 
imposed  on  every  person  over  fifteen.  The  insolence  of  a  collector  to  a  girl 
under  age,  the  daughter  of  a  tiler  named  Wat,  so  irritated  the  father  that  he 


68 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


struck  the  villain  dead.  He  did  more :  he  roused  the  common  people  of  his 
county,  Kent,  and  led  them,  armed  with  scythes,  flails,  and  sticks,  towards 
London,  people  flocking  to  them  in  thousands  by  the  way.  By  the  time  they 
reached  London  it  is  said  they  numbered  300,000.  At  Blackheath,  a  priest, 
John  Ball,  preached  to  them,  taking  for  his  text  a  popular  rhyme : 

"  When  Adam  delved,  and  Eve  span. 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman?" 

i 
He  taught  them  that  all  men  were  naturally  equal,  and  advocated  the  doing 

away  with  nobles,  bishops,  judges,  and  lawyers.  One  bad  feature  of  a  mob  is 
that  worthless  characters  always  associate  themselves  with  it  with  evil  intent. 
This  mob  was  no  exception.  The  houses  of  the  gentry  were  plundered  and 
many  people  killed.  Yet  in  London  itself  the  great  mass — the  real  villagers — 
seem  to  have  acted  with  wonderful  moderation.  As  evidence  of  this  it  is  told 
that  a  man  who  tried  to  secrete  a  silver  cup  he  had  stolen  was  thrown  into  the 
river.  Their  great  desire  was  to  see  the  king  and  lay  their  grievances  before 
him.  Richard,  who  was  but  sixteen  years  of  age,  acted  with  more  spirit  and 
discretion  than  he  ever  again  manifested.  With  a  few  unarmed  men  he  went 
in  his  barge  to  Mile-end,  where  60,000  were  assembled,  and  gently  asked  what 

they  wanted.     The  answer  was,"  Free- 
dom for  ourselves  and  our  children." 

He  granted  their  prayer,  and  thirty 
clerks  were  set  to  work  to  write 
charters  of  freedom,  which,  being  given 
to  all  who  came  forward  to  claim  them, 
the  better  part  of  the  mob  quietly 
dispersed.  But  Wat  Tyler,  with  Jack 
Straw  and  the  more  desperate  of  the 
party,  instead  of  going  to  Mile-end  to 
meet  the  king,  had  broken  open  the 
tower,  murdered  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  committed  other 
atrocities.  Next  day  Wat  at  the  head 
of  20,000  rioters  met  the  king  and 
the  Mayor  of  London  in  Smithfield, 
and  riding  up  to  the  king  behaved 
with  such  audacity  that  Walworth 
drew  his  sword  and  killed  him  with  one  blow.  "  My  friends,"  said  Richard, 
"you  have  lost  your  leader.  Follow  me:  I  will  take  his  place."  Turning  his 
horse,  he  rode  gallandy  at  the  head  of  the  multitude  into  the  open  fields. 
Meantime  a  cry  had  gone  forth  in  London  that  the  king  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  rebels  and  the  citizens  rose  as  one  man  and  flew  to  the  rescue.     The  mob, 


RICHARD    I 


ENGLAND. 


69 


seized  with  a  panic,  fell  on  their  knees  imploring  pardon.  This  was  granted 
them  on  condition  of  their  instantly  returning  to  their  homes,  which  they  gladly 
did,  and  the  insurrection  was  at  an  end. 

We  have  written  thus  in  detail  of  this  struggle  because  it  has  its  own  in- 
terest and  its  own  lesson  for  us  of  the  present  day.  The  king  prevailed  by 
reason  of  his  justice,  reasonableness,  and  manliness. 

Scotland  had  now  firmly  established  its  independence,  but  there  was  a 
chronic  state  of  feud  and  conflict  between  the  Eno-lish  and  Scottish  knio-hts  and 
barons  along  the  border.  Of  these  the  Percies  of  Northumberland  w^ere  the 
most  distinguished  on  the  English  side  ;  the  Douglases,  on  the  Scotch.  The 
battle  of  Otterburn,  so  famous  under  its  ballad-name  of  Chevychase  and  which 
Shakespeare  thought  not  unworthy  of  his  muse,  falls  under  this  reign. 

On  attaining  the  age  of  twenty-two,  Richard  assumed  entire  control  of  the 
government,  dispensing  altogether  with  Parliament,  and  relying  for  support  on 
a  standing  army  of  10,000  men — the  first  levied  in  England.     His  despotic 
courses    led    to   conflict    with 
his    nobles.      One    day    the 
Dukes  of  Hereford  and  Nor- 
folk— both  of  royal  blood — 
while   riding  in   company  fell 
into  discourse  reg-ardin^  Rich- 
ard's  character.     Norfolk  de- 
clared   him    to    be   unworthy 
of  credit,  and    Hereford  de- 
nounced Norfolk  as  a  traitor. 
Norfolk    brought  a   counter- 
charge   of  disloyalty  against 
Hereford.    Acourt  of  chivalry 
decided  that  the  matter  should 
be  left  to  the  judgment  of  God,  by  wager  of  battle 
combatants  appeared  in  the  lists 


COSTUMES    OF    RICHARD    II. 'S    TIME. 


On  the  day  appointed  the 
They  sat  with  lances  in  rest,  awaiting  the 
signal  for  onset,  when  Richard  threw  down  his  truncheon  and  forbade  the 
fight,  passing  sentence  of  banishment  on  both — on  Norfolk,  for  life ;  on 
Hereford,  for  ten  years. 

Hereford  went  to  France,  and  while  he  was  there  his  father,  John  of 
Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  the  king's  uncle  and  the  most  powerful  man  in  all 
England,  died.  Hereford  (now  Duke  of  Lancaster)  claimed  his  estates ;  but 
the  king,  on  the  pretext  that  an  exile  could  hold  no  land,  seized  them  for  him- 
self. Lancaster  knowing  that  discontent  was  all  but  universal  resolved  to 
assert  his  rights.  He  landed  in  England  during  the  king's  absence  in  Ireland. 
Nobles  and  people  flocked  to  his  standard,  and  he  reached  London  at  the 
head  of  60,000  men.     His  uncle,  the  Duke  of  York,  had  raised  40,000  to  oppose 


70  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

him,  but,  on  discovering  the  inclination  of  his  own  army,  made  common  cause 
with  Lancaster.  Richard  on  his  arrival  in  England  found  himself  all  but 
deserted  and  retired  to  the  castle  of  Conway  in  Wales.  Tiie  Earl  of  North- 
umberland was  sent  out  with  a  force  to  try  to  obtain  possession  of  his  person. 
Fearin^'-  that  if  the  king  saw  the  force  he  would  make  off  by  sea,  Northumber- 
land concealed  his  troops  in  a  hollow  place  behind  rocks  between  Flint  and 
Conway  and  went  to  the  castle  with  but  five  attendants.  Terms  were  easily 
arranged  with  the  king.  Both  were  insincere  ;  the  king  never  meant  to  keep 
the  terms,  Northumberland  wanted  only  to  entrap  his  person.  Yet  mass  was 
solemnly  performed  and  both  swore  on  the  sacrament  to  observe  the  con- 
ditions faithfully.  They  dined  together,  and  set  off  for  Flint.  On  reaching 
the  declivity  and  seeing  pennons,  Richard  e.xclaimed :  "  God  of  Paradise  aid 
me!  I  am  betrayed,"  and  turned  his  horse's  head  to  return.  Northumber- 
land, laying  his  hand  on  the  bridle,  said :  "  I  have  promised  to  convey  you  to 
Henry  of  Lancaster,  and  thither  must  thou  go."  The  poor  king  submitted 
with  the  words:  "May  the  God  on  whose  body  you  laid  your  hand  to-day 
reward  you  for  this  at  the  last  day."  Richard  was  taken  to  London  and 
lodged  in  the  tower,  where  he  was  forced  to  sign  his  abdication.  The  instru- 
ment being  read  in  Parliament  and  his  deposition  unanimously  voted,  Lan- 
caster, who  was  present,  claimed  the  crown,  and  his  claim  w-as  at  once  ad- 
mitted. Richard  died,  a  prisoner,  in  Pontefract  Castle,  not  without  the  sus- 
picion that  he  was  starved  to  death. 

With  Richard  ended  the  Plantagenet  kings — an  able  but  hard  and  tyran- 
nical race.  But  there  is  a  soul  of  goodness  even  in  things  evil.  Out  of 
tyranny  comes  rebellion  ;  out  of  rebellion,  often,  liberty. 

The  events  calling  for  special  notice  in  this  reign  are — (i.)  The  emanci- 
pation of  the  serfs.  This  had  been  progressing  gradually  in  previous  reigns  ; 
notably,  the  desire  of  many  barons  for  money  to  enable  them  to  go  on  the 
crusades  had  led  them  to  sell  their  freedom  to  many  in  this  degraded  con- 
dition. Now  Wat  Tyler's  rebellion  in  great  manner  consummated  their  eman- 
cipation. (2.)  The  first  appearance  of  a  standing  army,  levied  as  we  have 
seen,  not  against  a  foreign  foe,  but  in  support  of  despotism.  (3.)  The  setde- 
ment  of  a  colony  of  Flemings  as  weavers  in  the  west  of  England :  west-of- 
England  cloth  is  still  ranked  among  the  best.  (4.)  Richard  Whittington 
(famed,  with  his  cat,  in  nursery  literature)  was  mayor  of  London  in  this  reign. 
The  real  Whittington  was  a  knight's  son  and  a  great  coal-merchant.  The  cat 
IS  a  myth.  (4.)  The  production  of  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales,  the  earliest 
really  great  English  epic  poem ;  and  the  founding  of  the  oldest  of  England's 
great  public  schools,  namely,  that  of  Winchester. 


ENGLAND.  71 

HOUSE  OF  LANCASTER. 

HENRY  IV.  (Bolingbroke).         1399 — 141 3. 

Henry  was  not  nearest  heir  to  the  throne,  and  conscious  of  the  weakness 
of  his  claim  he  tried  to  propitiate  all  parties.  The  nobles,  with  the  glories  of 
Creqy  and  Poictiers  fresh  in  their  memories,  fretted  over  the  loss  of  the 
English  possessions  in  France.  To  them  he  held  out  the  glory  and  the  gains 
of  another  French  war.  The  growth  of  reformed  ideas  beean  to  alarm  the 
church:  to  it  he  held  out  the  promise  of  persecution.  Domestic  troubles  pre- 
vented him  from  immediately  fulfilling  his  first  promise;  there  was  naught  to 
hinder  him  implementing  his  second. 

At  the  king's  instigation  a  statute  was  enacted  dooming  every  heretic  to 
death  by  burning  at  the  stake.  When  the  Commons  House  of  Parliament 
prayed  the  barbarous  edict  might  be  at  least  mitigated,  Henry  replied  that  he 
wished  it  had  been  more  severe.  A  London  preacher,  by  name  William 
Salter,  was  the  first  to  suffer  the  dread  penalty,  and  Henry  enforced  his  reply 
to  the  appeal  of  the  Commons  by  at  once  signing  the  death-doom  of  another 
martyr. 

Wales  was  a  conquered  country,  but  the  spirit  of  the  people,  inspired  by 
their  patriot  bards  who  sung  the  glories  of  their  early  heroes,  was  unsubdued. 
Owen  Glendower,  a  Welsh  gentleman,  having  suffered  wrong  at  the  hands  of 
an  English  noble  and  been  refused  redress  by  Parliament,  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  his  countrymen  and  raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  The  belief  that 
he  was  the  lineal  descendant  of  their  own  prince  Llewellyn,  and  that  he  pos- 
sessed supernatural  power,  added  to  his  influence.  Thrice  did  Henry  lead  an 
army  into  Wales.     Thrice  he  came  back  baffled. 

"  Three  times  hath  Henry  Bolingbroke  made  head 
Against  my  power;  thrice  from  the  banks  of  Wye 
And  sandy-bottom'd  Severn  have  I  sent  him 
Bootless  home  and  weather-beaten  back." 

The  belief  in  Glendower's  supernatural  powers  was  based  on  the  fact  that 
he  had  studied  at  Oxford  and  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  science  of  that 
age.  He  seems  to  have  utilized  this  belief  for  his  own  purposes.  Thus 
tersely  and  vividly  does  a  Welsh  bard  celebrate  his  country's  favorite  hero, 
and  proclaim  his  hate  of  the  Saxon. 

"  Cambria's  princely  eagle,  hail !  of  Grwffwd  Vychan's  noble  blood. 
Thy  high  renown  shall  never  fail,  Owen  Glendower,  great  and  good. 
Lord  of  Dwrdws  fertile  vale,  warlike,  high-born  Owen,  hail ! 
Loud  fame  has  told  thy  gallant  deeds ;  in  every  word  a  Saxon  bleeds ; 
Terror  and  flight  together  came,  obedient  to  thy  mighty  name ; 
Death  in  the  van  with  ample  stride,  hewed  thee  a  passage  deep  and  wide." 


72  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Douglas,  at  the  head  of  10,000  Scots,  had  made  an  inroad  into  England, 
and  been  defeated  at  Homildon  by  Harry  Hotspur  and  himself  taken  prisoner. 
The  king  despatched  orders  that  the  captives  should  not  be  ransomed.  The 
hot-blooded  Percies  resented  the  command,  liberated  the  Douglas,  and  entered 
into  alliance  with  him  and  Glendower  to  depose  the  ungrateful  king  and  crown 
the  rightful  heir,  Edward  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March.  Douglas  and  Hotspur 
set  out  at  the  head  of  their  forces  to  join  Glendower,  but  ere  effecting  a  junc- 
tion were  met  by  the  king  with  an  equal  force  at  Shrewsbury.  It  was  on  this 
day  that  Prince  Henry,  the  king's  son,  commenced  his  career  of  glory.  Young 
Hotspur  and  Douglas  performed  prodigies  of  valor,  plunging  into  the  fight  in 
search  of  the  king.  He  had  caused  several  knights  to  wear  armor  similar  to 
his  own,  and  one  after  another  of  these  Douglas  slew. 

"  Another  king !  they  grow  like  Hydra's  heads : 
I  am  the  Douglas,  fatal  to  all  those 
That  wear  those  colors  on  them." 

The  royal  forces  were  victorious.     Hotspur  was  slain  and  Douglas  made 

prisoner. 

"  Go  to  the  Douglas,  and  deliver  him 
Up  to  his  pleasure,  ransomless  and  free : 
His  valor  shown  upon  our  crests  to-day 
Hath  taught  us  how  to  cherish  such  high  deed 
Even  in  the  bosom  of  our  adversaries." 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  the  young  prince,  with  whom  remained  the  honors 
of  the  day. 

The  elder  Percy  perished  in  a  subsequent  revolt. 

Every  reader  of  Shakespeare  is  familiar  with  the  youthful  escapades  of 
the  madcap  Prince  Henrj',  who  afterwards  became  one  of  England's  great- 
est kings.  His  wild  pranks  brought  him  and  one  of  his  companions  be- 
fore the  chief-justice.  Henry  demanded  his  friend's  release,  and  on  refusal 
drew  his  sword.  The  justice  instandy  ordered  him  to  prison,  and  the  prince 
meekly  submitted.  "Happy  the  monarch,"  said  the  king,  "who  has  a  judge 
so  resolute,  and  a  son  so  willing  to  obey  the  laws ! " 

King  Henry  e.xpired  in  the  forty-sixth  year  of  his  age  and  fourteenth  of  his 
reign.     The  great  stain  on  his  rule  was  the  burning  of  Lollards  for  heresy. 


HENRY   V.         141 3— 1422. 

One  of  the  best  proofs  of  this  prince's  wisdom  was  his  requiring  Chief-Justice 
Gascoigne,  who  had  condemned  him  to  prison,  to  continue  in  office.  In  the 
same  spirit  he  dismissed  the  companions  of  his  youthful  follies ;  restored  the 


ENGLAND. 


73 


long-imprisoned  Earl  of  March  (the  true  heir  to  the  throne)  to  liberty ;  con- 
ciliated the  powerful  family  of  the  Percies  by  restitution  of  their  forfeited 
estates;  and  gave  to  the  bones  of  Richard  II.  a  royal  burial  in  Westminster 
Abbey. 

In  this  reign  the  persecution  of  the  Lollards  or  followers  of  Wickliffe, 
whose  chief  "  heresy  "  was  the  denial  of  transubstantiation,  was  intensified. 
Sir  John  Oldcastle,  their  leader,  and  many  others  perished  at  the  stake.  The 
new  doctrines  began  to  be  associated  with  those  of  abolition  of  social  dis- 
tinctions and  the  equalization  of  property — in  short,  with  ideas  akin  to  m.odern 
communism  Such  was  the  intensity  of  the  hate  to  such  notions  that,  thirty 
years  after  Wickliffe's  death,  his  bones  were  disinterred,  burned,  and  cast 
into  a  brook  running  into  the  Avon.  In  the  following  lines  Wordsworth 
makes  this  act  the  emblem  of  the  diffusion  of  his  doctrines: 


"  As  thou  these  ashes,  little  brook,  wilt  bear 
Into  the  Avon — Avon  to  the  tide 
Of  Severn — Severn  to  the  narrow  seas — 
Into  main  ocean  they — this  deed  accurst 
As  emblem  yields  to  friends  and  enemies, 
How  the  bold  teacher's  doctrine,  sanctified 
By  truth,  shall  spread  throughout  the  world  dispersed." 

Henry  burned  to  recover  the  English  possessions  in  France,  and  yet  more 
to  recover  the  honor  lost  by  England 
having  had  so  many  fair  provinces 
wrested  from  her.  When  one  is  re- 
solved to  fight,  pretexts  are  not  far  to 
seek.  Of  course  there  was  the  old 
claim  of  the  English  kings  to  the 
throne  of  France.  Henry  crossed  the 
channel  with  io,ooomen,and,  at  Agin- 
court,  on  St.  Crispin's  day,  1415,  in 
three  hours  converted  a  French  army 
of  ten  times  their  number  into  a  disor- 
derly, rushing  rabble.  On  his  return 
to  England,  e.xulting  people  rushed 
into  the  water  and  bore  him  ashore  on 
their  shoulders.  The  road  towards 
London  was  strewed  with  flowers, 
and  his  entry  into   the  city  was  like 

,-,  .  ,  HENRY    V. 

a  Koman  tnumpn. 

Next  year  he  reduced  Rouen,  married  Catherine,  the  daughter  of  the  insane 
King  of  France,  was  appointed  regent  of  France,  and  received  a  promise  of 


74  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

the  crown  on  the  death  of  the  king.  In  the  following  year  he  reduced  all 
France  to  the  north  of  the  Loire.  In  the  midst  of  his  career,  death  removed 
him  in  1422,  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  leaving  an  infant  son  to  suc- 
ceed him. 

The  most  notable  advance  made  towards  constitutional  liberty  during 
Henry's  rule  was  the  step  gained  by  the  House  of  Commons  that  no  law  should 
be  valid  without  receiving  its  assent.  The  famous  navy  of  England,  also,  had 
its  commencement  in  this  reign,  the' first  ship  ever  owned  by  government  hav- 
ing been  built  during  it.  Before  that  the  seaport  towns  furnished  all  the  ships 
needed  for  maritime  purposes.  Henry's  widow,  Catherine,  married  Owen 
Tudor,  a  Welsh  gendeman,  their  grandson  becoming  Henry  VII.,  and  founder 
of  the  Tudor  dynasty. 


HENRY  VI. 


1422 — 1461. 


This  sovereign  was  crowned  at  the  age  of  nine  months.     A  regency  was 
formed  of  which  the  Duke  of  Bedford  was  head.     Instantly  war  was  renewed 

between  France  and  England,  memor- 
able for  the  active  part  taken  in  it  by 
the  Maid  of  Orleans,  to  whom  the 
French  king  (Charles  VII.)  was  in- 
debted for  his  restoration.  The  events 
"of  this  war  belong  to  the  history  of 
France,  and  all  that  needs  to  be  said 
of  it  here  is  that,  during  the  minority 
of  Henry  VI.,  all  the  territories  con- 
quered by  his  father  were  regained  by 
France,  save  the  solitary  town  of 
Calais.  Such  was  the  end  of  the  100 
years'  war. 

The  English  were  not  a  people  to 
bear  such  a  loss  of  territory  and  of 
honor  patiently.  Discontent  was  uni- 
versal, and,  when  the  Duke  of  Bedford 
died,  discord  and  strife  broke  out  over 
the  successorship. 
Henry  was  not  of  the  stuff  to  control  the  discordant  elements  in  such  a 
period  of  discontent  and  disorder.  He  was  a  mild,  pious  man,  of  feeble, 
almost  imbecile  intellect,  and  ductile  temper.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he 
married  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  a  bold,  masculine  woman, 
m  whose  hands  he  was  litde  more  than  a  puppet.  This  was  no  age  for  such  a 
ruler.     A  new  rebellion  broke  out  in   Kent,  headed  by  a  turbulent  fellow 


HENRY   VI. 


ENGLAND.  75 

named  Jack  Cade.  The  statement  of  their  grievances  shows  how  far  the 
people  had  advanced  on  the  road  to  liberty  since  the  days  of  Wat  Tyler.  In 
their  "  complaint "  submitted  to  government  there  is  no  mention  of  serfage  ; 
only  of  bad  counsellors;  undue  interference  by  the  nobles  in  elections;  ex- 
tortions by  tax-gatherers,  and  such  like.  Cade  marched  on  London  at  the 
head  of  20,000  men,  having  encountered  and  scattered  the  royal  forces  at 
Sevenoaks.  Poor  Henry  fled  affrighted  to  Kenilworth  Castle.  For  three  days 
Cade  held  London,  before  he  was  put  down.  On  a  promise  of  pardon  and 
redress  of  grievances  the  body  of  the  insurgents  retired  to  their  homes.  Cade 
with  a  few  followers  fled  southwards.  Being  pursued  and  caught  he  was  slain 
by  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  at  Iden,  Sussex. 

We  come  now  to  one  of  the  most  disastrous  epochs  in  English  history. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Henry  IV.  was  not  the  rightful  heir  to  the  throne. 
His  father,  John  of  Gaunt,  was  third  son  of  Edward  III.,  while  Lionel,  second 
son  of  that  monarch,  had  issue  now  represented  by  Richard,  Duke  of  York. 
On  the  other  hand  Henry  had  obtained  the  crown  by  choice  of  the  people, 
and  it  had  now  been  in  his  family,  unchallenged,  for  sixty  years.  It  is  prob- 
able, therefore,  if  Henry  VI.  had  been  a  man  like  his  father  his  right  would 
never  have  been  questioned.  Unfortunately  he  rather  took  after  his  maternal 
grandfather,  the  insane  King  of  France,  and  Richard  of  York  was  by  Parlia- 
ment appointed  Protector  of  the  kingdom.  The  king's  imbecility  and  the 
insolent  arrogance  of  the  queen  seemed  to  invite  York  to  press  his  claim  for 
the  crown.  On  the  king's  partial  recovery  he  refused  to  give  up  his  power, 
and  levied  an  army  to  maintain  himself  in  his  position.  This  opened  the  civil 
war  between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  called  the  "  Wars  of  the 
Roses,"  from  a  white  rose  being  the  cognizance  of  the  house  of  York,  and  a 
red  rose  that  of  the  house  of  Lancaster.  Tradition  and  Shakespeare  have 
attributed  these  badges  to  a  dispute  between  the  two  leaders  in  the  Temple 
Gardens,  when  York  exclaims : 

"  Let  him  that  is  a  true-born  gentleman. 
And  stands  upon  the  honor  of  his  birth, 
If  he  suppose  that  I  have  pleaded  truth. 
From  off  this  briar  pluck  a  white  rose  with  me." 

And   Somerset,  relative  and  defender  of  the   reigning  house  of  Lancaster, 

replies : 

"  Let  him  that  is  no  coward  nor  no  flatterer, 
But  dare  maintain  the  party  of  the  truth, 
Pluck  a  red  rose  from  off  this  thorn  with  me." 

The  first  encounter  was  at  St.  Albans,  May,  1455,  and  the  Yorkists  were 
victorious.     Other  eno-aeements  followed  with  various  success,  till  a  compro- 

•  1  1 

mise  was  arrived  at  by  which  York  was  to  have  the  crown  on  the  king's  death. 


76 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


But  Margaret  had  borne  a  son  to  the  king,  who,  by  this  arrangement,  was  dis- 
inherited, and  to  this  his  high-spirited  mother  would  not  submit.  She  raised 
an  army,  overthrew  the  Yorkists  at  Wakefield,  December,  1460,  and,  the  duke 
havin"-  fallen,  she  caused  his  head  to  be  encircled  with  a  paper  crown  and  set 
upon  the  walls  of  York.  The  gleam  of  success  was  transient,  for  York's  son, 
Edward,  after  routing  the  queen's  forces  at  Mortimer's  Cross,  entered  London 
in  triumph,  February,  1461,  and  his  claim  being  now  admitted  by  Parliament, 
he  mounted  the  throne,  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  as  Edward  IV. 
The  unhappy  king  passed  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life  a  prisoner  in  the 
tower,  save  the  brief  period  he  was  taken  out,  and  set  on  the  throne,  by 
Warwick. 

Never  did  any  royal  lady  experience  so  many  vicissitudes  as  Margaret  of 


MARGARET    AND    THE    ROBBER. 


Anjou.  After  the  disastrous  batde  of  He.xham  she  fled  with  her  young  son 
to  a  forest,  where  she  wandered  about  amid  the  darkness  of  night,  without 
protection,  and  exhausted  with  fatigue,  terror,  and  hunger.  In  this  wretched 
condition  a  robber  approached  her  with  a  drawn  sword.  She,  rendered  fear- 
less by  desperation,  met  him  without  sign  of  alarm,  and  placing  her  little  boy  in 
his  arms  said,  "  My  friend,  this  is  the  son  of  your  king,  and  I,  his  mother,  con- 
fide him  to  your  protection."  He,  nobly  responding  to  the  trust  placed  in  him, 
conducted  mother  and  child  to  a  place  of  concealment,  and  assisted  them  to 
escape  from  the  country.  She,  latterly,  escaped  to  Flanders,  where  she  placed 
herself  and  son  under  the  protection  of  Philip,  Duke  of  Burgundy. 

Of  all  the  great  men  who  took  share  in  this  quarrel  of  the  rival  houses  none 
was  so  distinguished  as  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  called  the  "  King-maker,"  who 
favored  the  house  of  York.     Tradition  says  he  entertained  every  day  at  table 


ENGLAND.  77 

in  his  different  castles,  30,000  persons,  and  at  his  palace,  Warwick  Lane,  Lon- 
don, six  oxen  were  eaten  every  morning  at  breakfast  by  his  retainers. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  "  Wars  of  the  Roses,"  by  the  first  battle  at  St. 
Albans,  to  its  close  at  Bosworth  field  in  the  reign  of  Richard  III.,  thirty  years 
elapsed,  during  which  twelve  pitched  battles  were  fought,  no  less  than  eighty 
princes  were  slain,  while  the  ancient  nobility  was  almost  annihilated. 

The  best  thing  to  note  in  the  reign  of  the  unfortunate  Henry  is  the  found- 
ing of  Eton  College,  the  second  of  the  great  schools  to  be  founded,  Winchester 
being  the  first.     His  reign,  also,  saw  Chaucer  in  his  bloom. 


EDWARD   IV. 


For  the  first  three  years  of  his  reign  Edward  had  to  struggle  to  keep  his 
position.  Within  a  month  of  his  accession  he  obtained  a  victory  over  his 
enemies  at  Towton,  Yorkshire,  March,  1461,  and  finally,  after  the  decisive 
battle  of  Hexham,  May,  1464,  King  Henry  fell  into  his  hands,  and  the  unfor- 
tunate Margaret  and  her  son  escaped, 
as  has  been  already  told,  to  Flanders. 
This  closed  the  war  for  a  time. 

Edward  thougfh  of  a  g-enerous  dis- 
position  was  impetuous  and  impru- 
dent. By  his  desire  Warwick  went  to 
France  to  solicit  for  him  the  hand  of  a 
sister-in-law  of  Louis,  King  of  France. 
While  the  king-maker  was  on  his  mis- 
sion, the  king  as  he  was  hunting  met 
with  Elizabeth  Woodville,  a  knight's 
daughter,  and  married  her  secretly. 
This  insult  to  himself  the  kinof-maker 
resolved  to  revenge  by  restoring  the 
poor  imbecile,  Henry  VI.,  to  the  throne. 
Thousands  at  his  bidding  abandoned 
the  white  rose  for  the  red,  and  in  1 469 
Edward  fled  to  Holland,  while  Henry  was  released  from  prison  and  set  on  the 
throne.  But  in  147 1  Edward  returned  to  England,  gave  battle  to  Warwick,  on 
Easter  Sunday,  at  Barnet,  where  the  great  earl  was  slain.  The  undaunted 
Margaret  had  meantime  come  over  from  France,  hoping  to  find  her  husband 
king,  but  in  the  next  month  Edward  routed  the  Lancasterians  at  Tewkesbury, 
capturing  both  Queen  Margaret  and  her  son.  Prince  Edward.  The  latter  was 
murdered  the  day  after  the  battle  ;  the  queen,  after  an  imprisonment  of  four 
years,  was  ransomed  by  the  King  of  France ;  while  poor  Henry  died  one  of  those 


EDWARD    IV. 


78  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

deaths  so  common  in  the  tower,  he  was  murdered.     Edward  died  in  1483,  the 
latter  years  of  his  life  presenting  few  political  incidents  of  importance. 

This  reign  is  remarkable  for  the  introduction  of  printing  into  England. 
William  Ca.xton,  a  London  merchant,  was  sent  by  Edward  to  transact  some 
business  in  the  Netherlands,  and  during  his  stay  visited  Cologne,  where  he  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  the  art,  and  on  his  return  set  up  a  press  in  West- 
minster. The  first  book  printed  in  England  was  a  "Treatise  on  the  Game  of 
Chess."  Ca.xton  printed  a  great  many  religious  works,  some  histories,  and 
the  poems  of  Chaucer.  Learning  began  to  be  appreciated,  and  people  began 
to  ffive  their  money  for  the  founding  of  schools,  rather  than  of  monasteries. 
Many  new  colleges  were  built  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Nevertheless  many 
superstitions  still  continued.  Even  among  the  most  enlightened  there  existed  a 
belief  in  witchcraft,  alchemy,  and  astrology.  Poor  old  women  were  still  scored 
on  the  forehead  or  burned  or  drowned  as  witches;  the  alchemist  was  unwearied 
in  his  researches  after  the  elixir  vitce,  which  was  to  cure  all  diseases,  and  give 
to  age  the  vigor  and  bloom  of  youth,  and  after  the  philosopher's  stone,  which 
was  to  convert  all  metals  into  gold.  The  astrologer  still  told  people  their 
future,  by  a  study  of  the  planets  which  dominated  at  their  birth.  Of  medicine 
and  surgery  litde  was  known,  the  former  being  practised  by  monks,  the  latter 
by  barbers. 


RICHARD    III.         1483— 1485. 

This  sovereign,  brother  to  the  last  king,  is  probably  more  generally  known 

through  Shakespeare's  delineation  of 
him  than  from  works  of  plain  history. 
His  brother,  Edward  IV.,  left  two  sons, 
one  about  thirteen,  the  other  nine.  Im- 
mediately on  his  brother's  death  he  as- 
sumed the  title  of  Protector,  and  getting 
the  poor  boys  into  his  power  sent  both 
to  the  tower.  They  were  never  again 
seen,  and  were  believed  to  have  been 
smothered  by  hired  assassins.  Hav- 
ing thus  cleared  the  way,  he  caused  him- 
self to  be  proclaimed  king  by  the  citizens 
of  London.  Soon  after  his  coronation 
he  passed  several  laws  for  the  encourage- 
ment and  protection  of  home  trade,  with 
the  view  of  conciliating  the  guilds  and 
corporations  in  towns  in  his  favor.  He 
also  established  English  consuls  in  the  trading  towns  on  the  Mediterranean. 


RICHARD    111. 


go  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Possibly  the  most  important  of  the  institutions  established  by  him  was  the 
post-office,  in  imitation  of  the  couriers  instituted  by  Louis  II.  of  France.  But 
nothing  could  reconcile  the  great  body  of  the  people  to  his  cruelties.  He  had 
caused  several  nobles  to  be  beheaded  without  a  trial  on  a  charge  of  treason. 
A  conspiracy  was  the  result,  headed  by  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  to  restore 
the  line  of  Lancaster,  and  after  a  batde  at  Bosworth,  where  Richard  was 
slain,  Henry,  Earl  of  Richmond,  a  descendant  of  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke  of 
Lancaster,  was  hailed  king  on  the  field  of  batde  under  the  title  of  Henry  VII. 


HENRY  VII.         1485— 1509. 

Henry's  first  act,  after  ascending  the  throne,  was  a  wise  one.  He  married 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Edward  IV.,  and  thus  terminated  a  long-standing 
quarrel  by  the  union  of  the  white  rose  with  the  red. 

Henry's  claim  to  the  throne  was  by  no  means  clear,  and  the  leading  politi- 
cal events  of  his  reign  were  insurrections  arising  from  claims  made  by  per- 
sons professing  to  be  nearer  heirs.  There  lay  in  the  tower  a  young  prince, 
the  Earl  of  Warwick,  nephew  of  Edward  IV.,  whose  title  many  thought  better 
than  Henry's.  Suddenly  a  report  spread  that  Warwick  had  escaped,  and  a 
young  man  appeared  in  Dublin — where  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  Warwick's 
father,  had  been  esteemed  as  governor  of  Ireland — and  was  there,  amid  popular 
acclaim,  crowned  King  of  England.  As  soon,  however,  as  he  ventured  into 
England  his  party  was  routed  at  Stoke,  1487,  and  he  himself  turned  into  the 
royal  kitchen  to  serve  as  a  scullion  by  Henry,  who  had  a  talent  for  turning 
everything  to  the  best  account.  He  was  really  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and 
his  true  name  was  Lambert  Simnel.  After  him  appeared  Perkin  Warbeck,  who 
professed  to  be  the  younger  son  of  the  late  king,  spared  by  the  assassin  who 
had  murdered  his  brother.  This  claimant  was  patronized  by  the  Duchess  of 
Burgundy,  sister  of  Edward  IV.,  and  supported  by  James  IV.  of  Scotland,  and 
to  this  day  many  believe  he  was  the  genuine  heir.  He  married  a  beautiful 
Scotch  lady,  Catherine  Gordon,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Huntly,  afterwards 
known  as  the  "White  Rose  of  England,"  who  proved  her  faith  in  him  by  re- 
maining true  to  him  through  all  his  misfortunes.  After  many  adventures  he 
fell  into  Henry's  hands  and  was  sent  to  the  tower.  In  1499  Henry,  pestered 
by  a  third  claimant,  in  order  to  free  himself  from  further  trouble,  had  both 
young  Warwick  (who  was  still  in  the  tower)  and  Warbeck  convicted  of  a  plot 
and  beheaded. 

Henry  died  in  1509  and  was  buried  by  the  side  of  his  wife  in  the  beautiful 
chapel  adjoining  Westminster  Abbey,  which  he  had  built  for  himself. 

Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  Henry,  was  married  to  James  IV.,  King  of 
Scodand,  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  this  marriage  that  James  VI.  of  Scot- 


ENGLAND.  81 

land,  her  great-grandson,  inherited  the  throne  of  England  on  the  death  of 
Elizabeth. 

Bacon  wrote  a  history  of  Henry's  reign  and  says  "justice  was  well  ad- 
ministered, save  when  the  king  was  partei."  Hume  reckons  it  "  the  dawn  of 
civility  and  science  in  England." 

To  the  intelligent  reader  the  following  account  of  the  daily  life  in  the  house 
of  a  great  nobleman  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  will  have  more  interest  than 
the  bald  recital  of  political  incidents.  In  the  casde  of  the  Earl  of  Northum- 
berland everybody  rose  at  six,  when  mass  was  said,  all  the  knights,  squires, 
and  servants  being  present.  After  mass  came  breakfast,  when  there  was  set 
on  the  earl's  table,  for  himself  and  lady,  a  quart  of  beer,  a  quart  of  wine,  salt 
fish,  red  herrings,  and  sprats  in  season.  This  was  the  ordinary  fare  on  fish 
days ;  on  flesh  days  a  chine  of  mutton  or  piece  of  boiled  beef  was  substituted 
for  the  fish.  At  ten  o'clock  the  whole  family  dined  in  the  great  hall ;  supper 
was  served  at  four,  and  at  nine  the  gates  were  closed,  after  which  no  one  was 
allowed  to  pass  in  or  out.  The  earl  reckoned  on  dining  from  thirty  to  sixty 
strangers  every  day.  The  expense  of  each  person  for  meat,  drink,  and 
firing  was  calculated  at  two-pence  half-penny  a  day,  equivalent  to  about 
sixty  cents  of  our  money. 

Maps  and  charts  were  first  brought  to  England  in  this  reign  by  Bar- 
tholomew Columbus,  who  came  to  make  proposals  respecting  the  projected 
voyage  of  his  brother.  Henry  was  willing  to  support  Christopher,  but 
before  Bartholomew  got  back  to  Spain  he  had  sailed  in  the  service  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  the  Spaniards  became  masters  of  the  New 
World. 

Artillery  was  first  largely  used  in  this  reign.  It  was  artillerj^  gave  Henry 
his  easy  victory  over  the  Cornishmen  who  supported  Warbeck.  Through- 
out the  Middle  Ages  the  call  of  a  baron  had  been  enough  to  raise  a  for- 
midable revolt.  Yeomen  and  retainers  took  down  their  bow  from  the 
chimney-corner,  knights  buckled  on  their  armor,  and  forthwith  an  army 
threatened  the  throne.  Without  artillery,  such  an  army  was  now  helpless, 
and  the  one  train  of  artillery  lay  at  the  disposal  of  the  king.  Gunpowder  had 
ruined  feudalism. 


HENRY  YIII.         1509— 1547. 

We  now  come  to  the  time  when  the  old  customs  founded  on  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith  were  abolished,  monasteries  and  convents  shut  up  and  abolished, 
and  the  religious  orders  which  had  formerly  played  so  prominent  a  part, 
alike  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman  times,  disappear.  Such  a  change  could 
not  have  been  effected  by  a  sovereign  less  absolute  than  Henr^'  VIII. 

Henry  was  second  son  of  Henry  VII.,  and  ascended  the  throne  at  the 
6 


82 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


ao-e  of  eio-hteen.  His  elder  brother  was  dead,  and  had  left  a  widow,  Catherine 
of  Arrac^on,  a  daughter  of  the  illustrious  sovereigns  of  Spain,  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  Soon  after  his  accession  she  became  the  wife  of  Henry  VIII.,  and 
this  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  great  revolution  in  the  English  church 
and  English  faith.     Catherine  was  his  senior  by  a  few  years. 

The  first  twenty  years  of  Henry's  reign  were  quiet  enough.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  it  (15 1 3)  were  two  short  wars,  one  with  France  and  one  with  Scot- 
land, in  which  latter  war  the  victory  of  P'lodden  was  won.  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
Archbishop  of  York,  was  minister  from  1515  till  his  fall  in  1529,  and  this  was 
the  best  governed  portion  of  Henry's  reign.  Henry  was  an  eager  student  of 
theolocry,  and  in  1521  produced  a  book  in  defence  of  the  seven  sacraments 
aeainst  Luther,  which  earned  him  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  a  title 
still  borne  by  the  English  sovereigns.  But  as  Catherine  aged,  Henry  became 
dissatisfied  and  wished  a  younger  wife.  He  professed  to  be  troubled  in  con- 
science on  account  of  his  marriage  with  his  brother's  widow  and  prayed  the 
pope  to  divorce  the  union.  But  Catherine  was  the  sister  of  Charles  V.  of 
Spain,  probably  the  most  powerful  monarch  in  Christendom,  and  the  pope 
hesitated  and  temporized.  Ever  since  the  days  of  Wickliffe  the  new  ideas  had 
been  operating  like  yeast  in  the  English  mind,  and  many  were  eager  to  see  a 
check  put  upon  the  power  and  influence  of  the  church.  The  pope  had  named 
a  commission,  of  which  Wolsey  was  a  member,  to  try  the  divorce,  but  on  the 
king  declaring  his  intention  of  marrying  Anne  Boleyn,  a  young  lady  who  had 
been  about  the  court,  Wolsey  declined  to  act,  and  the  commission  was  with- 
drawn. The  revocation  of  the  commission  was  virtually  the  end  of  the  papal 
power  in  England,  the  steps  that  followed  being  the  working  out  of  the  in- 
evitable results.  Wolsey  was  deprived  of  power  in  1529  and  a  ministry 
appointed,  in  which  for  the  first  time  laymen  held  the  highest  places.  The 
king's  chief  adviser  was  Wolsey's  old  servant,  Cromwell,  while  Sir  Thomas 
More  was  appointed  chancellor. 

Wolsey  whose  fall  we  have  thus  noted  was  a  churchman  and  statesman  of 
the  school  of  Dunstan  and  Thomas-a-Becket.  He  rose  from  the  lowest  ranks 
to  be  prime  minister  of  England,  archbishop,  and  cardinal,  and,  except  the 
king  himself,  was  the  richest  and  most  powerful  man  in  the  kingdom.  He 
built  the  fine  palace  of  Hampton  Court,  and  presented  it  to  the  king.  He  was 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  faithful  ministers  that  ever  a  sovereign  had.  The 
words  in  which  Shakespeare  makes  him  address  his  servant  Cromwell  after  his 
fall  are  among  the  noblest,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  pathetic  in 
literature: 

"  Be  just  and  fear  not : 
Let  all  the  ends  thou  aim'st  at  be  thy  country's. 
Thy  God"s,  and  truth's;  then,  if  thou  fall'st,  O  Cromwell, 
Thou  fall'st  a  blessed  martyr. 


ENGLAND.  83 

O  Cromwell,  Cromwell ! 
Had  I  but  served  my  God  with  half  the  zeal 
I  served  my  king,  he  would  not  in  mine  age 
Have  left  me  naked  to  mine  enemies." 

Henry  now  appealed  to  Parliament  and  measure  after  measure  was  passed 
limiting  clerical  power  and  papal  influence.  Henry  was  declared  head  of  the 
church  in  England,  the  tax  of  Peter's  pence  was  abolished,  and  the  pope's 
claim  for  the  annats  or  first  year's  revenue  of  every  benefice  declared  invalid. 
In  1533  the  king  married  Anne  Boleyn,  and  Cranmer,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, held  a  court  and  pronounced  a  sentence  of  divorce  between  Henry  and 
Catherine,  declaring  the  marriage  to  have  been  null  from  the  beginning. 
Parliament  also  settled  the  succession  on  the  issue  of  Anne  Boleyn  to  the 
exclusion  of  that  of  Catherine.  Scarcely  had  these  measures  passed  when 
news  came  from  Rome  that  the  pope  had  pronounced  a  judgment  finding 
Henry's  marriage  with  Catherine  valid.  On  the  day  following  Henry  called 
into  operation  the  act  abolishing  the  pope's  authority. 

The  ruthlessness  of  Henry's  character  now  manifested  itself.  He  merci- 
lessly sacrificed  every  one  who  stood  in  his  way.  Minor  victims  fell  unheeded, 
but  all  Europe  was  shocked  when  Sir  Thomas  More  and  Fisher,  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  were  put  to  death  for  refusing  to  acknowledge  the  new  succession, 
and  to  admit  the  king's  right  to  the  headship  of  the  church.  Cromwell  also 
fell  a  victim.  Within  a  short  time  after  the  birth  of  the  Princess  (afterwards 
queen)  Elizabeth,  Henry's  love  for  Anne  Boleyn  ceased,  and  he  had  her  e.xe- 
cuted.  On  the  day  after  the  execution  he  married  Jane  Seymour,  who  died 
in  giving  birth  to  Edward  VI.  From  his  next  wife,  Anne  of  Cleves,  he  procured 
a  divorce.  His  fifth  wife,  Catherine  Howard,  was  within  a  few  months  of  her 
marriage  divorced  and  executed  for  adultery,  and  his  sixth  wife,  Catherine 
Parr,  survived  him,  and  so  the  catalogue  ends.  Henry  himself  died  in  1547, 
in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age  and  thirty-eighth  of  his  reign. 

Not  the  least  painful  feature  associated  with  the  reformation  was  the 
suppression  of  religious  houses  and  the  appropriation,  by  this  tyrant,  of  their 
revenues,  plate,  jewels,  and  other  valuables  for  his  own  use.  All  the  fine  old 
abbeys  were  dismantled  of  their  beautiful  paintings  and  magnificent  dec- 
orations, and  the  books  and  manuscripts  that  had  been  the  work  of  so  many 
ages  given  up  to  destruction.  The  inhabitants  were  expelled,  many  to  starve 
or  beg,  while  the  higher  orders  were  compelled  to  resign  their  property  to  the 
crown.  The  suppression  of  these  houses  was  a  serious  misfortune  to  the  poor, 
who  had  been  accustomed  to  look  to  them  for  succor  in  all  their  distresses. 

In  the  last  will  of  King  Henry  it  was  set  down  that  his  son  Edward,  born 
by  Jane  Seymour,  should  succeed  him  ;  but  in  the  event  of  Edward  dying 
without  children  the  crown  should  devolve  on  the  Princess  Mary,  daughter  of 
Catherine  of  Arragon,  and  after  her  on  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn. 
It  so  happened  that  all  three  did  reign  in  succession. 


84 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


EDWARD    VI. 


1547—1553- 


This  reicfn  is  chieflv  noticeable  for  the  completion  and  consolidation  of 

the  work  of  reformation.  Images  were 
removed  from  churches,  Roman  Catho- 
lic bishops  imprisoned,  the  cup  extended 
to  the  laity  in  communion,  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy  made  no  longer  obliga- 
tory, and  a  new  service-book  was  drawn 
up  by  Bishops  Cranmer  and  Ridley, 
assisted    by  other  divines.     The  most 


meritorious   work    done    by    the    king 


himself  was  the  founding  of  a  large 
number  of  grammar  schools,  known  as 
King  Edward's  schools.  On  account 
of  the  Scottish  government  refusing  to 
let  their  Queen  (Mary)  marry  Edward, 
in  accordance  with  a  contract,  war  broke 

out  with  that  country,  and  the  Scotch  were  completely  defeated  at  Pinkie,  in 

September,  1547.     Edward  died  in  July,  1553. 


ED\A?ARD 


MARY. 


1553—1558. 


^^^ 


Mary,  who  succeeded  on  the  death 
of  her  brother  Edward,  could  not  be 
expected  to  feel  favorably  towards  the 
reformation,  for  it  arose  from  the  de- 
sire of  King  Henry  to  get  rid  of  her 
mother.  Still,  although  a  warm  friend 
of  the  Catholic  church,  she  was  not  at 
first  disposed  to  be  severe,  but  rather 
interfered  to  mitigate  the  cruelties  of 
Bishops  Gardiner  and  Bonner.  After 
her  marriage  with  Philip  of  Spain — a 
stern,  coarse  bigot — those  bloody  per- 
secutions began  which  have  stained 
her  name.  Among  other  victims  was 
Cranmer,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
who  had  pronounced  sentence  of 
divorce  against  her  mother.     In  an  unnecessary  war  with  France,  provoked 


'^'ii^F.t 


MARY   I. 


QUEEN    ELIZABETH    IN    HER    YOUTH. 


(So) 


86 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


by  Philip,  Calais,  the  last  English  possession,  was  lost,  and  the  queen  was  so 
much  iTieved  that  the  loss  is  supposed  to  have  hastened  her  death. 


ELIZABETH.         1558— 1603. 

Elizabeth  was  in  her  third  year  when  her  mother,  Anne  Boleyn,  was  be- 
'  headed.  She  ascended  the  throne  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  one  of  the 
first  acts  of  her  reign  was  to  call  to  her  counsels  Cecil,  to  whose  courteous 
^judgment  and  clear  intellect  she  had  the  good  sense,  to  the  very  last,  to  sub- 
ordinate her  own  capricious  temper.  Like  her  sister  Mary,  Elizabeth  on  her 
accession,  had  promised  to  allow  all  her  subjects  the  enjoyment  of  their  relig- 
ious opinions  undisturbed.  No  sooner,  however,  was  she  established  on  the 
throne  than  she  adopted  measures  to  repress  Catholicism  and  re-establish 
the  Protestant  religion.  Catholics  were  fined  and  imprisoned,  or  even  executed, 
w'ho  refused  to  attend  the  Protestant  churches.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  she  took  every  means  to  extend  the  commerce  and  in- 
crease the  opulence  of  her  country,  which,  under  her,  reached  a  degree  of 
prosperity  it  had  never  hitherto  attained.  The  progress  of  navigation,  under 
Drake,  Frobisher  and  others,  was  unparalleled.     Two  great  political  events 

distinguish  this  reign — the  captivity 
and  execution  of  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,  and  the  defeat  and  dispersion 
of  the  famous  Spanish  Armada. 
The  former  is  the  one  great  blot  on 
Elizabeth's  name ;  her  conduct  on 
the  occasion  of  the  threatened  inva- 
sion by  the  latter  constitutes  her 
chief  claim  on  the  world's  respect. 
Mary,  fleeing  from  her  rebellious  sub- 
jects in  Scotland,  appealed  to  her 
cousin  for  succor  and  shelter.  For 
eighteen  melancholy  years  she  was 
kept  a  prisoner,  and  at  length,  on 
the  pretext  that  she  was  the  centre 
SIR  FiiANcis  DRAKE  °^  CathoHc  plots,  she  was  beheaded  in 

Fotheringay  Castle,  Feb.  7th,  1587. 
Beautifully  and  pathetically  does  the  poet   Burns  make  the  unfortunate 
Mary  apostrophize  the  coldly,  calculating,  callous  Elizabeth : 

"  But  as  for  thee,  thou  false  woman, 
My  sister  and  my  fae  ! 
Grim  vengeance  yet  shall  whet  the  sword 
That  through  thy  heart  shall  gae. 


ENGLAND.  87 

"  The  weeping  blood  in  woman's  breasts 
Was  never  known  to  thee, 
Nor  the  balm  that  drops  on  wounds  of  woe 
Frae  woman's  pitying  e'e." 

Philip  of  Spain  had  several  causes  for  hating  Elizabeth.  She  had  refused 
to  marry  him,  for  though  he  had  been  her  sister's  husband  he  had  proposed 
marriage  to  her.  Then  she 
befriended  the  Huguenots  of 
France  and  the  Netherlands, 
who  strug'gled  against  his  au- 
thority ;  and,  finally,  her  navi- 
gators, Drake  and  others,  had 
seized  and  plundered  several 
of  his  American  settlements. 
On  July  19th,  1588,  the  for 
midable  Spanish  fleet  came  in 
sight  of  Plymouth,  whereup- 
on Elizabeth's  admiral,  Lord 
Howard  of  Effingham,  ordered 
eight  of  his  lightest  ships, 
stowed  with  combustibles,  to 
be  set  afire  in  the  middle  of 
the  nicrht  and  sent  adrift 
among  the  ships  of  the 
enemy.  The  result  was  such 
consternation  and  confusion 
that  the  destruction  or  dis- 
persion of  the  armada  was 
effected  by  the  small,  but  ably  handled  fleet  of  England. 

The  weakest  point  in  Elizabeth's  character  was  her  fondness  for  favorites. 
Chief  among  these  was  the  Earl  of  Essex.  Sent  to  Ireland  to  quell  Tyrone's 
rebellion,  he  conducted  matters  so  improvidendy  that  his  troops  melted  away 
by  death  and  desertion.  He  returned  to  England  only  to  face  the  accusations 
and  persecution  of  enemies  bent  on  his  destruction.  Galled  to  desperation, 
he  proceeded  from  folly  to  folly,  till  he  was  seized,  arraigned  for  high  treason, 
convicted  and  executed.  It  cost  Elizabeth  a  sore  struggle  ere  she  could  sign 
the  warrant  for  his  execution.  A  story  is  told  that  in  happier  days  the  queen 
had  taken  a  ring  from  her  finger  and  given  it  to  Essex  with  an  injunction  to 
send  it  to  her  whenever  he  should  be  in  danger.  This  ring,  after  his  con- 
demnation, he  gave  to  the  Countess  of  Nottingham  to  convey  to  the  queen. 
The  hard-hearted  woman,  counselled  by  Cecil,  Essex's  great  enemy,  withheld 
the  token,  and  the  queen,  indignant  at  Essex's  not  appealing  to  her,  signed  the 


SIR   WALTER   RALEIGH. 


88 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


warrant  of  his  doom.  The  countess,  when  on  her  death-bed,  sent  for  the 
queen  and  confessed  what  she  had  done,  imploring  forgiveness.  Wild  with 
race  and  orief,  the  queen  seized  the  dying  woman  by  the  shoulder  and  shook 
her  violendy,  exclaiming,  "  God  forgive  you  ;  I  never  will !  " 

Another  of  the  queen's  favorites  was  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  Distinguished 
in  many  ways,  he  was  a  famous  navigator  and  sailed  on  voyages  of  discovery 
to  America.  He  was  the  first  to  take  possession  of  the  oldest  of  all  the 
States,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Virginia,  in  honor  of  the  "Virgin 
Queen."  A  vessel  sent  out  by  Raleigh  left  a  number  of  settlers  on  an  island 
on  the  American  coast,  where  they  would  all  have  perished  had  they  not  been 
discovered  and  carried  home  by  Drake.  They  brought  tobacco  with  them, 
and  smoking  soon  became  one  of  the  accomplishments  of  the  fashionable 
youth  of  England.     Whether  the  weed  brought  was  a  boon  or  the  reverse, 

we  leave  our  readers  to  determine. 
A  less  dubious  gift  of  his  to  England 
was  that  of  potatoes. 

The  Elizabethan  is  the  golden  age 
of  English  literature.  The  sinMe 
name  of  Shakespeare  elevates  it 
above  the  competing  epoch  in  the 
world's      history.       William      Shake- 


SHAKESPEARE. 


speare  was  born  April  23d,  1564,  at 
Stratford-on-Avon,  Warwickshire,  the 
third  of  eight  children  born  to  John 
Shakespeare  and  Mary  Arden,  who 
had  brought  her  husband  a  dowry  of 
fifty-four  acres  of  land.  John  Shake- 
speare rose  to  be  high  bailiff  and 
chief-alderman  of  Stratford,  but  fall- 
ing later  into  poverty,  William,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  had  to  be  taken  from 
the  free  grammar-school  of  the  burgh,  and  set  to  work.  Ben  Jonson  (himself 
a  ripe  scholar)  says  of  him,  "  he  had  litde  Latin  and  less  Greek."  At  the  age 
of  nineteen  he  married  Anne  Hathaway,  who  in  six  months  presented  him 
with  a  daughter.  In  1586,  falling  into  a  poaching  scrape,  he  left  Stratford 
and  came  to  London  and  became  associated  with  Blackfriars'  theatre,  where 
he  rose  to  be  actor,  dramatist,  and  shareholder.  By  161 1  the  whole  of  his 
immortal  plays,  thirty-seven  in  number,  were  produced.  A  year  after  the 
completion  of  the  last  he  retired  to  Stratford,  where  he  had  by  purchase  ac- 
quired considerable  property.  There  he  died  in  his  fifty-second  year,  leaving 
two  daughters.  No  lineal  representative  of  the  great  dramatist  remains. 
Besides  plays,  he  produced  in  his  twenty-ninth  year  a  poem,  "  Venus  and 
Adonis,"  and,  next  year,  the  "Rape  of  Lucrece."  His  sonnets,  fifty-four  in 
number,  were  first  printed  in  1609. 


ENGLAND.  89 

Only  second  to  Shakespeare  was  Edmund  Spenser,  author  of  the  "Faerie 
Queen."  He  was  born  of  good  family  in  London  in  1553,  and  was  educated 
as  a  sizar  at  Cambridge.  In  1579  was  published  his  "Shepherd's  Calen- 
dar," dedicated  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  through  whose  influence  he  received  the 
appointment  of  secretary  to  Lord  Grey,  queen's  deputy  in  Ireland,  where,  for 
his  services,  he  received  a  grant  of  the  estate  of  Kilcolman,  Cork,  covering 
some  3,000  acres,  where  he  chiefly  resided.  Here  he  wrote  his  "  Faerie 
Queen,"  and,  with  his  friend  Raleigh,  read  the  manuscript  while  sitting 

"Amongst  the  cooly  shade 
Of  the  green  alders,  by  the  Milla's  shore." 

By  Raleigh  he  was  taken  to  England  and  introduced  to  Queen  Elizabeth. 
In  Tyrone's  rebellion  his  house  or  castle  at  Kilcolman  was  burned,  he  and  his 
wife  escaping  with  difficulty,  whilst  their  youngest  child  perished  in  the  flames. 
He  died,  Ben  Jonson  says,  for  "  lack  of  bread  "  in  London,  January,  1599,  and 
was  buried  near  Chaucer  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Spenser's  other  works  are 
his  "Complaints,"  "Mother  Hubbard  Tale,"  "The  Tears  of  the  Muses,"  etc., 
with  a  prose  work  entitled  a  "  View  of  Ireland."  Another  great  name  in  this 
reign  is  that  of  Lord  Bacon,  author  of  "  Novum  Organon,"  "Advancement  of 
Learning,"  "  Essays,"  etc.,  and  recognized  as  father  of  the  inductive  philos- 
ophy. All  his  works  are  irradiated  by  the  light  of  an  intellect,  at  once  one  of 
the  most  capacious  and  profound  that  ever  appeared  before  men.  Alas,  that 
his  moral  nature  was  as  grovelling  as  his  intellectual  towered  above  that  of 
other  men.  Appointed  keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  and  in  1619,  Lord  Chancel- 
lor, with  the  title  of  Lord  Verulam,  he  polluted  the  stream  of  justice  by  truck- 
ling to  the  sovereign  and  powerful  favorites,  as  well  as  by  directly  accepting 
bribes  for  unjust  judgments.     Well  has  Pope  said  of  him  : 

"  If  parts  allure  thee,  think  how  Bacon  shined 
The  wisest,  brightest,  meanest  of  mankind." 

We  have  space  to  mention  further,  as  lights  of  this  reign,  only  the  names 
of  the  dramatists  Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  and  Marlowe,  and  of 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  each  great  as  statesman,  warrior 
and  writer. 

Elizabeth  did  not  lonor  survive  her  favorite  Essex.  When  her  end  ap- 
proached  her  ministers  urged  her  to  name  her  successor.  Some  one  named 
Lord  Beauchamp,  heir  to  the  Suffolk  claim.  "I  will  have  no  rogue's  son," 
she  cried  hoarsely,  "  in  my  seat."  At  the  mention  of  the  name  of  the  King  of 
Scotland  she  raised  her  hand  feebly  to  her  head,  which  her  ministers  took  as 
a  sign  of  consent.  She  expired  March  24th,  1603,  in  the  seventieth  year  of 
her  age  and  the  forty-fifth  of  her  reign. 

One  of  the  remarkable  features  in  this  reign  was  the  appearance  of  the 


90 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Puritans.  Many  who  had  been  exiled  by  Mary  took  refuge  in  Geneva,  and 
there  learned  the  doctrine  of  Calvin,  the  founder  of  Presbyterianism.  These 
persons,  when  they  returned  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  were  horrified  to 


CARRYING    QUEEN    ELIZABETH    IN    STATE. 

find  that  she  retained  many  of  the  prayers  and  observances  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Though  discountenanced  by  the  queen,  their  public  preaching,  ex- 
hortations and  way  of  living  had  a  visible  effect  on  the  manners  of  the  age. 
In  particular,  Sunday,  or  Sabbath  as  they  named  it,  began  now  to  be  observed 
with  seriousness,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  a  day  of  pastime  and  excess. 


COSTUMES  OF  QUEEN   ELIZABETH'S  TIME. 


In  this  reign  was  enacted  the  first  compulsory  law  for  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
which  is  the  foundation  of  the  present  poor-laws  of  England ;  coaches  were 
first  introduced,  and  a  German  set  up  the  first  manufactory  of  needles.     In 


ENGLAND.  91 

1588  the  first  paper-mill  was  established,  and  the  art  of  weaving  stockings 
was  invented  by  a  Cambridge  student.  Neither  coffee  nor  tea  were  known. 
But  ladies,  even  of  the  highest  rank,  were  wont  to  regale  themselves  at  a 
seven  o'clock  breakfast  with  hot  mead  and  ale.  May  Day  was  a  great  festival, 
when  the  rustics  used  to  repair  to  the  woods,  where  they  sang  and  danced  till 
daylight,  carrying  home  with  them  wild  flowers,  branches  of  trees,  and,  above 
all,  the  May-pole,  drawn  by  oxen.  This  May-pole  was  set  up  on  the  village 
green,  and  a  queen  of  the  May  chosen  from  among  the  village  lasses.  Every 
reader  will  recall  Tennyson's  lines  : 

"  You  must  wake  and  call  me  early,  call  me  early,  mother  dear ; 
To-morrow  '11  be  the  happiest  time  of  all  the  glad  New  Year, 
Of  all  the  glad  New  Year,  mother,  the  maddest,  merriest  day; 
For  I'm  to  be  queen  o'  the  May,  mother  I'm  to  be  queen  o'  the  May." 


JAMES  I.  1603— 1625. 

By  the  accession  of  James  VI.  of  Scotland  to  the  English  throne,  the  whole 
of  the  three  kingdoms  were  united,  under  one  monarch,  in  the  united  king- 
dom of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  As  many  of  the  events  of  the  following 
reigns  have  reference  to  Scotland  and  Ireland  as  well  as  England,  we  will,  with 
the  view  of  economizing  space,  treat  all  such  under  one  or  other  of  these 
countries. 

The  leading  characteristic  of  the  monarchs  of  the  Stuart  race  was  their 
conviction  that  they  ruled  by  "  right  divine,"  which  unfortunately  was  often  in- 
terpreted by  its  members  to  mean  "  right  divine  to  govern  wrong,"  and  so  was 
the  cause  of  the  misfortunes  which  seemed  to  dog  the  name.  James  was  a 
weak,  timid,  vain  man — "the  most  learned  fool  in  Europe" — and  full  of  the 
conviction  that  he  was  above  and  independent  of  all  ministers.  Parliaments,  or 
other  restraining  agencies.  Both  he  and  his  male  successors  thought  they 
could  raise  what  money  they  wished  by  their  own  uncontrolled  edict,  and  that 
they  could  prescribe  to  their  subjects  what  form  of  religion  they  should  follow, 
and  what  faith  they  should  hold. 

The  most  notable  event  in  King  James'  reign  was  the  gunpowder-plot. 
Scarcely  had  he  been  a  year  on  the  throne  till  some  fanatical  Roman  Catholics 
formed  a  plot  to  blow  up  the  parliament  house  when  the  King,  royal  family, 
and  all  the  peers  should  be  assembled.  A  Yorkshire  gendeman,  Guy  Fawkes, 
who  had  run  through  his  patrimony,  was  hired  to  e.\ecute  the  plot,  with  sufli- 
cient  assistants.  A  mine  was  run  under  Parliament,  and  a  cellar  also  under  the 
house  hired,  and  twenty  barrels  of  gunpowder  placed  in  it.  Parliament  was  to 
assemble  November  5th,  w^hen  Fawkes  was  to  fire  the  mine  by  means  of  a 
slow  match.     On   October   26th,  Lord   Monteagle,  a   Catholic  nobleman,  re- 


92  THE   CxOLDEN   TREASURY. 

ceived  an  anonymous  letter  warning  him  to  stay  away  from  Parliament.  The 
letter  was  laid  before  the  secretary  of  state  and  the  king.  The  cellar  was 
searched,  the  gunpowder  found,  and  a  man  discovered  with  a  dark  lantern  in 
his  hand  and  matches  in  his  pocket.  This  was  Fawkes.  He  and  most  of  the 
conspirators  were  apprehended  and  put  to  death.  For  over  two  centuries  the 
escape  of  the  king  was  commemorated  in  the  English  Church  as  a  day  of 
thanksofivinor. 

Another  plot  had  been  laid  before  to  deprive  James  of  the  sovereignty, 
which  would  not  be  referred  to  here,  were  it  not  that  it  cost  England  the  life 
of  one  of  her  illustrious  sons,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  He  was  a  party  to  the  plot, 
and  was  in  consequence  confined  in  the  Tower  for  thirteen  years,  during  which 
time  he  wrote  his  "  History  of  the  World."  At  length,  pretending  that  he 
knew  of  a  gold  mine  in  South  America,  he  was  permitted  to  levy  a  band  of 
adventurous  companions  and  go  forth  with  them  as  their  guide  to  the  mine. 
The  expedition  proved  a  failure,  and  when  he  returned  home  he  was  beheaded 
for  his  old  treason. 

A  plan  was  afoot  for  a  marriage  between  the  King's  eldest  son,  Prince 
Charles,  and  the  daughter  of  Philip,  King  of  Spain.  The  prince,  however,  was 
averse  to  marrying  a  woman  he  had  never  seen.  Being  fond  of  adventures, 
he  and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  the  king's  favorite,  persuaded  James  to  al- 
low them  to  travel  to  Spain  in  disguise.  They  setoff  on  the  romantic  mission, 
with  a  single  attendant  each,  under  the  names  of  John  and  Thomas  Smith. 
On  their  way  Charles  saw  at  Paris  the  Princess  Henrietta  of  France.  Arrived 
at  Madrid,  the  knights-errant  made  themselves  known,  and  the  prince  was 
magnificently  entertained.  But  the  end  of  it  all  was  that  the  Infanta  and  prince 
did  not  take  to  each  other.  The  match  was  broken  off,  and  in  the  end  Charles 
subsequently  married  Henrietta  of  France. 

James  had  been  brought  up  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  discovering 
after  some  time's  sojourn  in  England  that  Presbyterianism  was  not  "a  religion 
for  a  gendeman,"  he  sent,  in  1 617,  commissioners  to  Scotland  to  force  the 
people  into  the  English  Church.  The  people,  either  not  agreeing  with  the 
king  in  his  notion,  or  not  desiring  to  be  converted  so  summarily  into  "  gentle- 
men," declined  to  conform  ;  and  this  step  of  James  was  the  cause  of  great 
future  trouble  in  that  country. 

James  died  in  1625. 

London  streets  were  first  paved  in  this  reign,  each  householder  paving  the 
portion  opposite  his  house,  and  the  fronts  of  all  new  houses  were  ordered  to 
be  of  brick  or  stone. 

The  great  literary  undertaking  in  this  reign  was  the  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  into  the  form  we  had  them  until  the  recent  revision.  Besides  Wick- 
hffe's  translation,  there  were  others,  as  Tyndale's,  in  existence,  but  their  lan- 
guage was  becoming  obsolete.     No  such  work  was  ever  so  successfully  exe- 


ENGLAND. 


93 


cuted.     This  and  the  works  of  Shakespeare  had  the  effect  of  crystallizino-  the 
English  language   in  the   form  in  which  it  was  spoken  three  hundred  years 


CHARLES   I.         1625— 1629. 

Charles  was  twenty-five  years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the  throne,  and 
one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  marry  Henrietta  of  France,  whom  he  had  seen 
when  on  his  Quixotic  expedition  to  Madrid.  He  was  a  decorous,  earnest  man, 
of  irreproachable  character  in  private  life,  a  good  husband  and  fond  father; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  in  political 
affairs  he  was  unscrupulous,  and 
resorted  to  dissimulation  and  fraud 
for  the  accomplishment  of  his  ends. 
He  had,  besides,  inherited  the  most 
extreme  notions  of  kingly  pre- 
rogative— the  divine  right  of  kings, 
as  it  was  called — and  he  imbibed 
from  his  father  the  fixed  notion 
that  a  national  Episcopal  Church, 
to  which  everyone  must  be  com- 
pelled to  conform,  was  alone  con- 
sistent with  regal  authority.  The 
Parliaments  in  the  commencement 
of  his  reign,  instead  of  compla- 
cently granting  supplies  in  accord- 
ance with  his  demands,  showed 
themselves  rather  disposed  to  vindi- 
cate the  people's  rights  and  liber- 
ties. This  was  not  at  all  what  he 
desired,  and  after  causing  several  members  to  be  imprisoned,  he  dissolved  the 
Houses  and  governed  the  country  eleven  years  without  either  Parliament  or  a 
responsible  ministry.  He  took,  in  place.  Laud  (Archbishop  of  Canterbury) 
and  Strafford  (of  Star-Chamber  notoriety)  as  his  advisers.  The  two  great  ques- 
tions of  his  reign  were  freedom  of  conscience  and  the  right  of  the  people  to 
have  a  voice  in  taxing  themselves.  Both  of  these  claims  Charles  denied.  The 
Puritans  (as  the  non-conformists  were  called)  were  treated  by  the  half-popish 
Laud  with  merciless  severity.  Many  who  refused  to  conform  to  what  they  re- 
garded as  unscriptural  and  idolatrous  usages,  were  dragged  before  a  secret 
and  irresponsible  court,  caWed  the  Star-Chamber,  and  punished  by  imprison- 
ment, whipping,  the  pillory,  and  by  having  their  ears  cut  off,  their  nostrils  slit, 


CHARLES 


94  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

and  their  cheeks  branded  by  red-hot  irons.  In  consequence,  many  fled  over- 
seas to  New  Eno-land,  where  they  could  worship  God  in  accordance  with  their 
conscience,  none  daring  to  make  them  afraid.  The  Scots  he  roused  to  open 
revolt  by  forcing  Episcopacy  upon  them. 

All  this  time  Charles  was  in  desperation  for  money.  He  now  fell  on  a  de- 
vice to  raise  it,  which,  with  Laud's  persecutions,  and  Strafford's  Star-Chamber 
secret  tribunals,  roused  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  England  also  to  active  op- 
position. From  Anglo-Saxon  times  the  maritime  towns  of  the  kingdom  had 
been  required  to  furnish  shipping  in  seasons  of  danger.  Charles'  subser- 
vient lawyers  now  held  that  an  equal  obligation  lay  on  the  whole  kingdom, 
and  accordingly  writs  for  "  ship-money  "  were  issued  to  the  sheriffs  of  every 
county,  requiring  them  to  levy  it  on  the  people.  Many  refused  to  pay  the  un- 
constitutional tax,  and  prominent  among  these  was  John  Hampden,  who  both 
as  a  private  man  and  a  member  of  subsequent  Parliaments  with  "  dauntless 
breast "  withstood  the  despotic  impost. 

Charles  was  now  so  distressed  for  money  that  he  summoned  a  Parliament 
in  hopes  of  being  relieved  from  his  difficulties.  But  the  people  sent  many 
Puritan  representatives  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  this  body — now  the 
stronger — led  by  Hampden,  Pym  and  others,  instead  of  granting  him  immedi- 
ate relief,  demanded  numerous  concessions  which  he  resolutely  refused  to 
grant.  He  saw,  in  fact,  he  must  surrender  every  prerogative  he  claimed — 
spiritual  despotism,  unchecked  power  of  taxation,  etc. — or  go  to  war.  He 
chose  the  latter  alternative  and  set  up  the  royal  standard  at  Nottingham.  He 
was  supported  by  many  of  the  nobility  and  gentry — cavaliers  as  they  were 
called — but  the  townspeople  and  yeomen,  in  general,  joined  the  parliament. 
Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war,  in  which  Oliver  Cromwell,  a 
country  gendeman  and  brewer  of  great  military  talent,  rose  to  be  commander. 
For  three  years  Charles  struggled  against  his  Parliament,  and  many  battles 
were  fought,  till  at  length  his  forces  were  utterly  routed  at  Naseby,  and  he 
himself  fled  in  disguise  to  the  Scottish  army.  The  Scots  gave  him  up  and 
from  that  time  forth  he  was,  although  not  in  actual  confinement,  virtually  a 
prisoner.  Weary  of  the  situation  he  attempted  to  escape.  Being  captured, 
he  was  ultimately  conducted  to  London,  tried  in  Westminster  Hall,  con- 
demned to  death,  and  executed  at  Whitehall,  January  30th,  1649. 

Newspapers  began  to  be  first  regularly  published,  and  banking  had  its 
origin  in  this  reign.  The  Puritans  began  to  be  called  "Roundheads"  from 
the  fashion  of  wearing  their  hair  closely  cropped.  They  wore  a  dress  of 
coarse  gray,  black,  or  brown  cloth  made  in  the  plainest  fashion,  and  the  old- 
fashioned  high-crowned  hat.  The  cavaliers  or  court  party,  on  the  other  hand, 
wore  long  ringlets,  silk  or  satin  doublets,  with  slashed  sleeves,  lace  collars, 
and  flat  beaver  hat  with  feathers. 

Charles  was  a  liberal  patron  of  the  fine   arts.     Van  Dyck,  the  famous 


OLIVER    CROMWELL. 


|9.TI 


96 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Sim's  'X'       i  .1 


TRIAL   OF  CHARLES    I. 


Flemish  painter,  settled  in  England  at  his  request,  and  was  by  him  pensioned 
and  raised  to  knighthood.  Many  of  the  finest  portraits  in  the  royal  palaces, 
the  mansions  of  the  nobility  and  the  national  gallery  are  by  him.  Had 
Charles  lived  in  a  more  peaceful  time,  he  would,  like  Louis  XIV.  of  France, 
have  founded  a  national  school  of  art. 


COMMONWEALTH. 

England  was  now  without  a  king  or  House  of  Lords.  The  entire  gov- 
ernment was  vested  in  the  Commons.  The  Scots  had,  indeed,  proclaimed 
Charles  II.,  but  Cromwell  hurrying  from  Ireland  met  the  Scots  and  defeated 
them  first  at  Dunbar  and  then,  decisively,   at  Worcester.     It  was  in   these 


EXECUTION   OF  CHARLES   I. 


(97) 


98  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

battles,  and  that  of  Marston  Moor,  that  CromweU's  famed  "  Ironsides  "  earned 
their  fame. 

The  following  poem  conceived  in  the  true  spirit  that  inspired  Cromwell's 
"Ironsides"  reveals  to  us  the  secret  of  their  success.  They  fought  in  faith, 
and  with  perfect  confidence  in  themselves  and  their  cause  • 

THE    BATTLE    OF    MARSTON    MOOR. 

"  Hot  Rupert  came  spurring  to  Marston  Moor ; 

Praise  we  tlie  Lord ! 
Came  spurring  hard  with  thousands  a  score. 

Praise  we  the  Lord !  .  .  . 
He  bade  us  flee,  that  they  might  pursue ; 
So  from  trench  and  leaguer  straight  off  we  drew. 
But  we  halted  on  Marston  Moor  anew  ; 

To  the  Lord  our  God  be  glory!  .  .  . 

"Then  the  shot  of  their  guns  through  our  stilled  ranks  torej 

Praise  we  the  Lord  ! 
Then  a  pause  and  a  hush  fell  on  the  war; 

Praise  we  the  Lord ! 
Then  their  squadrons  thickened,  and  down  once  more 
Came  Rupert  and  Hell  with  a  rush  and  a  roar, 
More  fierce  and  fell  than  they  came  before ; 

To  the  Lord  our  God  be  glory ! 

"  Not  so,  O  Lord,  was  it  with  thine  own ; 

Praise  we  the  Lord ! 
To  us  were  thy  truth  and  mercy  shown ; 

Praise  we  the  Lord  ! 
Through  our  closed-up  ranks  were  our  trumpets  blown : 
Then  no  shout,  but  a  deep  psalm  rose  alone, 
And  we  knew  that  our  God  would  his  might  make  known. 

To  his  holy  name  be  glory  I 

"And  Cromwell,  his  servant,  spoke  the  word; 

Praise  we  the  Lord  ! 
'  On !  smite  for  the  Lord  I  spare  not ! '  we  heard ; 

Praise  we  the  Lord ! 
Hotly  our  spirits  within  us  stirred  ; 
Reins  were  loosened  and  flanks  were, spurred. 
And  the  heathen  went  down  before  God  and  his  word. 

To  his  name  alone  be  glory  !  " 

Many  stories  are  related  of  the  adventures  of  Charles  after  Worces- 
ter. For  some  days  he  stayed  disguised  as  a  laborer  at  a  farm-house  and 
cut  faggots  in  the  wood.     On  a  subsequent  day,  seeing  a  party  of  horse- 


ENGLAND.  99 

men  approaching,  he  dimbed  amongst  the  dense  foliage  of  an  old  oak,  and  lay 
hid  till  they  passed,  listening  to  their  talk  about  capturing  him.  The  oak  is 
still  known  as  the  "  Royal  Oak,"  and  is  to  this  day  a  popular  sign  for  public 
houses.  Amid  all  his  distresses  Charles  was  gay  and  played  many  a  prank 
among  his  friends.  He  escaped  to  Fechamp  in  Normandy.  Though  up- 
wards of  forty  persons,  many  in  humble  circumstances,  had  been  privy  to  his 
escape,  and  though  Parliament  had  offered  /^i,ooo  for  his  capture,  not  one  was 
base  enough  to  betray  him. 

Cromwell,  whose  ambition  was  as  boundless  as  that  of  the  great  Napoleon, 
and  whose  influence  over  his  soldiery  was  equally  unlimited,  now  resolved  to 
vindicate  his  authority  by  the  support  of  a  military  force,  and  get  rid  of  Parlia- 
ment. With  this  view  he  persuaded  his  officers  to  present  a  petition  to  the 
Commons,  asking  for  the  arrears  of  pay  due  them,  and,  next,  and  more  es- 
pecially, that  it  should  dissolve  itself.  As  Cromwell  foresaw,  Parliament 
treated  the  petition  with  scorn.  This  was  what  he  wanted.  He  repaired  at 
once  to  the  House  with  300  soldiers,  whom  he  posted  outside.  Entering,  he 
listened  for  a  time  to  the  debate,  then  stamped  with  his  foot  as  a  signal  for  his 
men  to  enter.  Seizing  the  mace,  the  emblem  of  royal  authority,  with  the 
words,  "  Take  away  that  bauble,"  he  ordered  the  members  to  disband  them- 
selves and  give  place  to  honester  men  ;  then  locking  the  door,  and  putting  the 
key  in  his  pocket,  he  returned  to  his  officers  at  Whitehall. 

Such  was  the  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament,  a  deed  regarded  in 
history  as  one  of  the  most  daring  and  unconstitutional  ever  performed. 
Cromwell's  next  object  was  to  have  a  Parliament  in  name,  which  should  be 
endrely  under  his  authority.  The  mode  of  election  was  novel.  The  ministers 
through  the  country  were  directed  to  take  the  sense  of  their  congregations 
respecdng  persons  "  faithful  and  fearing  God,"  and  to  send  up  their  names. 
From  these  Cromwell  selected  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine,  to  whom  he  gave 
authority  for  fifteen  months.  The  members  were  largely  fanatical  enthusiasts. 
One  of  them  was  called  Praise-God  Barebones,  and  from  him  the  Parliament 
got  the  name  of  the  "  Barebones  Parliament."  By  it  Cromwell  was  named 
"  Protector  of  the  Commonwealth."  In  reality  he  was  an  unlimited  monarch, 
and  probably  the  ablest  that  ever  ruled  England.  He  sustained  the  national 
honor  abroad  in  a  manner  such  as  had  not  been  known  from  the  days  of 
Elizabeth.  After  defeadngf  the  Dutch  twice  at  sea,  he  made  an  honorable 
peace  with  them  ;  from  the  Spaniards  he  captured  Jamaica,  and  his  fleet,  under 
Blake,  seized  many  of  their  treasure-ships  on  their  homeward  voyages  from 
America.     France  and  Spain  and  all  the  condnental  powers  sought  his  favor. 

Cromwell  died  in  1658,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Richard,  a  quiet, 
inoffensive  man,  who  discovering  he  could  not  be  happy  in  a  lofty  position, 
resigned  his  dignities  and  retired  to  private  life. 

During  Cromwell's  time  Puritanism  was  dominant  in  England.     All  kinds 


100  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

of  amusement  were  forbidden;  even  Christmas  pastimes  were  prohibited. 
Bear-baiting  was  put  down,  not,  says  Macaulay,  because  it  hurt  the  bear,  but 
because  it  was  pleasingr  to  the  people.  Coffee  and  sugar  were  introduced, 
and  the  general  post  ofifice  and  regular  banking-houses  established  in  London. 
John  Milton,  the  "  Prince  of  British  Poets,"  lived  and  wrote  during  the 
time  of  the  Commonwealdi.  Milton  was  born  in  London  in  1608,  his  father 
being  a  scrivener  and  a  man  of  "  plentiful  estate."  He  was  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  on  completing  his  studies  retired  to  a  country  house  of  his 
father,  where  he  spent  five  years,  reading  classic  authors  and  composing 
"  Comus."  '•  Lycidas,"  "Arcades,"  "  L' Allegro,"  and  "  II  Penseroso."  In  1 641  he 
engaged  in  the  political  and  religious  controversies  of  the  times,  on  the  side 
of  the  Commonwealth,  and  his  pen  is  said  to  have  been  as  terrible  as  Oliver's 
sword.  Lnceasing  study  affected  his  sight,  and  in  1654  he  became  totally 
blind.  After  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  he  retired  from  public  view  and 
produced  his  immortal  works,  "  Paradise  Lost "  and  "  Paradise  Regained." 
"Paradise  Lost"  was  published  in  1667.  He  received  five  pounds  from  the 
publishers  for  the  copyright,  and  a  promise  of  five  pounds  more  when  1.300 
copies  should  have  been  sold.  He  died  in  1674,  leaving  property  of  the  value 
of  ^1,500.  Wordsworth  says  of  him  :  "Thy  soul  w^as  like  a  star,  and  dwelt 
apart."     Dryden.  in  associating  him  with  Homer  and  \  irgil,  says : 

"  Three  poets,  in  three  distant  ages  bom, 
Greece,  Italy,  and  England  did  adorn ; 
The  first  in  loftiness  of  thought  surpassed, 
The  next  in  majestj-,  in  both  the  last. 
The  force  of  nature  could  not  further  go. 
To  make  a  third  she  joined  tlie  other  two." 


CHARLES   II.         1660— 1 6S5. 

Man  is  a  creature  of  extremes.  During  the  Commonwealth  England  was 
under  die  somewhat  gloomy  rule  of  Puritanical  fanaticism  ;  now  she  rebounded 
under  Charles  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  unbounded  license.  Unfortunately, 
in  her  sovereign  she  found  an  example  to  justify  her  in  the  wildest  indul- 
gences. Gay,  jovial,  unprincipled,  witty,  denying  himself  no  pleasure,  his  char- 
acter is  thus  summed  up  in  the  elegiac  quatrain  written  by  the  witt\' Rochester 
on  the  door  of  his  bed-chamber  : 

"  Here  lies  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King, 
Whose  word  no  man  relies  on  ; 
He  never  says  a  foolish  thing. 
Nor  ever  does  a  wise  one." 


102  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

More  tersely  yet  he  describes  him  as  "a  merry  monarch;  scandalous,  but 

poor." 

Never  was  monarch  more  enthusiastically  received  than  Charles  on  his  re 
turn  from  exile  to  London.     Looking  at  the  exulting  masses  the  king  quaintly 
remarked  that  he  could  not  conceive  why  he  had  stayed  away  from  them  so 
long. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Charles  and  his  Parliament  was  to  bring  to  trial  all 
concerned  in  the  execution  of  his  father.  Several  were  executed,  others  im- 
prisoned or  fined,  and  many  fled.  This 
settled,  he  looked  out  for  a  wife,  think- 
ing much  more  of  the  dowry  than  the 
disposition  or  person  of  the  lady.  He 
selected  the  richest  princess  in  Europe, 
Catherine  of  Portugal,  married  her, 
and  forthwith  neglected  her,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  surround  her  with  mistresses 
and  dissipate  her  fortune.  A  great 
naval  war  with  Holland  resulted  only 
in  several  desperate  conflicts  at  sea, 
neither  party  deriving  advantage  from 
the  contests.  Two  great  domestic 
calamities  mark  this  reign — the  plague 
and  the  great  fire  in  London.  It  was 
in  1665  that  the  plague  broke  out  in 
the  month  of  April  among  the  poor  of 
St.  Giles.  All  precautions  to  check  it  were  ineffectual.  It  did  its  work  with 
fearful  rapidity.  When  a  person  was  found  to  be  seized,  the  door  was  fastened 
up,  marked  with  a  red  cross  with  the  words  "  God  have  mercy  on  us,"  and  no 
one  was  allowed  to  go  in  or  out.  Food  was  set  down  outside  the  door,  and 
carts  came  round  to  take  away  the  dead,  who  were  all  buried  in  long  trenches. 
The  court  and  all  who  were  able  left  the  city,  the  grass  growing  green  in  the 
streets.  The  effect  on  different  minds  was  remarkable  ;  some  employed  their 
time  in  religious  exercises,  others  plunged  into  the  wildest  dissipation,  the 
solemn  stillness  being  occasionally  broken  by  sounds  of  unhallowed  merri- 
ment from  taverns  and  haunts  of  vice.  Over  a  hundred  thousand  persons 
died  in  London  alone,  and  similar  ravages  occurred  in  the  other  large  towns  of 
the  kingdom. 

Next  year  the  great  fire  occurred,  which  burnt  down  whole  streets  and 
even  destroyed  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  It  probably  did  good  by  clearing  away 
many  dirty  streets  and  narrow  alleys,  where  plague  might  have  lingered;  not 
the  less  it  was  a  fearful  misfortune.  The  king  and  his  brother  gained  much 
favor  by  their  presence  at  the  fire  and  doing  their  utmost  to  stay  it.     It  was 


CHARLES    11. 


ENGLAND.  103 

checked  at  last  by  blowing  up  large  areas  with  gunpowder.  The  monument 
on  Fish-street  Hill  was  erected  (i  671-1677)  to  commemorate  the  fire. 

Like  his  father  and  Laud,  Charles  tried  to  force  Episcopacy  on  Scotland, 
and  the  poor  people  who  resisted  were  subjected  to  cruel  persecution,  the  de- 
tails of  which  will  be  given  under  the  history  of  that  country. 

The  king  had  no  children,  and  a  story  was  circulated  that  Charles  was  to 
be  murdered,  and  his  brother,  a  Roman  Catholic,  set  on  the  throne.  Charles 
laughed  at  it  and  said,  "  No  one  would  kill  me  to  make  you  king,  James." 
Not  the  less,  when  public  clamor  demanded  the  lives  of  the  suspected  persons, 
Charles  in  his  easy,  selfish  way,  did  not  put  out  a  hand  to  save  them. 

A  real  plot,  called  the  Rye-house  Plot  was  formed  to  compel  the  king  to 
make  his  illegitimate  son,  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  his  heir.  Lord  Russell  and 
others  joined  it  from  their  hatred  to  Catholicism.  The  plot  was  discovered  and 
its  leaders  executed.  When  Lord  Russell  was  tried,  his  wife,  Lady  Rachel,  sat 
beside  him  all  the  time  and  was  his  great  comfort.  Monmouth  was  pardoned, 
.  but  fled  to  Holland. 

Charles  is  said  to  have  spent  the  last  Sunday  of  his  life  in  playing  cards 
and  listening  to  idle  songs.  Struck  with  apoplexy,  he  sent  for  a  Catholic  priest 
and  was  received  into  the  church  which  he  had  believed  in  without  daring  to 
acknowledge  the  fact,  for  fear  of  losing  his  crown. 

"  Paradise  Lost,"  Milton's  grand  work,  was  really  written  in  this  reign.  A 
scarcely  less  famed  literary  production  was  the  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  by  John 
Bunyan.  Originally  a  travelling  tinker  of  loose  habits,  Bunyan  on  being  con- 
verted became  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  of  which  he  was  chosen  to  be 
the  preacher.  Being  convicted  for  holding  conventicles,  he  spent  twelve  years 
in  Bedford  Jail,  where  he  laid  all  posterity  under  obligadons  by  writing  this 
marvellous  allegory. 

A  standing  army  was  established  by  Charles  in  times  of  peace  as  well  as 
of  war.  Tea  was  brought  to  England  by  the  Dutch  East  India  Company.  The 
best  law  passed  was  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.  The  Quakers  appeared  as  a 
•  new  sect  in  this  reign,  and  were  shamefully  persecuted,  which  drove  William 
Penn  with  many  followers  to  seek  refuge  in  America,  that  refuge  of  the 
oppressed. 

JAMES    II.  1685— 1688. 

James  was  really  a  better  man  than  his  brother.  He  was,  at  least,  open 
^  and  honest  in  joining  the  church  in  which  he  believed:  but  he  v/as  a  grave, 
sad,  stern  man,  and  people  disliked  him  because  he  had  not  the  graces  of  his 
light-hearted,  gay,  unprincipled  brother. 

The  Duke  of  Monmouth  attempted  a  rising,  but  his  friends  being  routed  at 
Sedgemoor,.he  was  taken  prisoner  and  executed.     The  royal  vengeance  was 


104 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


now  let  loose  on  the  adherents  of  Monmouth.  Sir  George  Jeffreys,  the  chief- 
justice,  was  sent  to  try  all  who  had  been  concerned,  from  Winchester  to  Exeter, 
and  he  hung  so  many,  and  treated  all  so  savagely,  that  his  progress  was  called 
the  "  bloody  assize."  James  now  issued  an  edict  that  a  person  might  be 
chosen  to  any  office  in  the  state  whether  he  were  a  member  of  the  established 
church  or  no,  and  ordered  it  to  be  read  in  the  churches.  Archbishop  Sancroft 
objected,  and  he  and  six  bishops  presented  a  petition  praying  the  king  that 
they  should  not  be  forced  to  read  it.  With  the  hereditary  absolutism  of  the 
Stuarts,  James  committed  all  the  seven  bishops  to  the  tower,  and  had  them 
tried  for  libel.  England  was  deeply  stirred,  and  there  was  general  exultation 
when  an  honest  jury  gave  a  verdict  of"  not  guilty." 

James  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  an  English  woman  and  a  Prot- 
estant, and  the  two  daughters  she  bore  him  were  brought  up  as  Protestants. 
The  eldest,  Mary,  married  her  cousin,  Prince  of  Orange,  Stadtholder  of 
Holland ;  Ann's  husband.  Prince  George  of  Denmark,  was  also  a  Protestant. 
James'  second  wife  was  an  Italian  princess  and  a  Catholic.  So  long  as  James 
had  no  son,  the  people  bore  with  him,  as  he  was  growing  old,  in  the  hope  of 
getting  a  Protestant  sovereign  in  William  at  his  death.  But  at  length  a  son 
was  born  of  the  second  marriage.  Forthwith  correspondence  was  opened 
with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who,  on  December  5th,  1688,  landed  at  Torbay, 
Devonsliire.  People  of  all  classes  flocked  to  him.  It  was  but  three  years 
from  the  bloody  assize,  and  people  had  not  forgotten  it  in  those  parts.  James 
fled  to  France,  and  the  English  Revolution  was  accomplished. 


WILLIAM  (AND   MARY).         1689— 1702. 


On  the  day  of  James'  departure 
the  Dutch  sovereign  entered  the  pal- 
ace as  if  he  were  hereditary  king.  It 
was  proposed  to  crown  both  Mary 
and  her  husband,  but  William  refused 
to  accept  the  crown  unless  he  were 
sole  monarch.  The  people,  however, 
conditioned  that  he  should  sign  a  bill 
of  rights  securing  them  against  fur- 
ther encroachments  by  the  sovereign. 
This  "  Bill  of  Rights  "  was,  in  fact,  a 
new  and  more  complete  Magna 
Charta.  Toleration  was  proclaimed, 
as  also  the  liberty  of  the  press. 

But  James  had  still  many  friends  in 


WILLIAM    III.    (OF    ORANGE). 


ENGLAND. 


105 


Ireland,  known  by  the  title  of  Jacobites.  All  Roman  Catholics  were,  of  course, ' 
of  this  party,  but  there  were  many  Protestants,  especially  of  the  aristocracy, 
also  well-affected  towards  him.  It  was,  therefore,  judged  that  if  James  ap- 
peared in  Ireland,  that  country  would  rise  in  his  behalf  Louis  XIV.  furnished 
him  with  a  small  army,  which  on  his  landing  was  largely  reinforced  by  Irish- 
men. William  hurried  over  to  meet  him  with  both  English  and  Dutch  troops, 
and  on  July  12th,  1690,  James  was  totally  defeated  by  the  Prince  of  Orano-e  at 
the  Battle  of  the  Boyne.  To  this  day  the  extreme  Protestants  of  Ireland  call 
themselves  Orangemen,  and  parade  on  the  anniversary  of  the  battle,  wearino- 
bouquets  of  orange-lilies. 

A  rising  of  the  Scots  under  Dundee  was  brought  to  nought  by  that  leader's 
death  at  Killiecrankie. 


COSTUMES,  TIME   OF  ^AfILI_IAM    AND    MARY. 

Towards  the  end  of  William's  reign  a  European  war  broke  out  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  succession  to  the  crown  of  Spain,  whose  king  had  died  childless. 
The  King  of  France  had  married  a  sister,  and  claimed  the  crown  for  his  grand- 
son. William  was  prepared  to  take  part  against  France.  Just  as  the  war 
broke  out,  in  riding  near  Hampton  Court,  he  had  his  collar-bone  broken  by  a 
fall  from  his  horse,  which  trod  on  a  mole-hill,  in  consequence  of  which  he  died. 
A  favorite  toast  with  the  Jacobites,  for  well  nigh  a  century  after,  was, "  the 
little  gentleman  with  the  velvet  coat." 


106 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


QUEEN   ANNE.         1702— 1 714. 

Of  course  James,  son  of  James  II.,  was  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne. 
But  it  was  now  the  law  of  England  that  none  but  a  Protestant  should  inherit 
the  throne,  and  James  was  Catholic.  Anne,  married  to  Prince  George  of 
Denmark,  therefore  succeeded.  The  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  was  now 
racing,  and  England  was  deeply  engaged  in  it.  The  Duke  of  Marlborough 
won  many  victories  over  the  French  in  Germany,  among  which  those  at  Blen- 
heim and  Ramilies  were  most 
famed.  Gibraltar  was  taken 
in  1 704,  by  a  combined  Dutch 
and  English  fleet,  and  has  re- 
mained in  the  possession  of 
England  ever  since. 

A  yet  more  important  oc- 
currence was  theunion  of  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  Since  the 
succession  of  James  I.  they 
had  been  ruled  by  one  sov- 
ereign, but  they  had  still  sep- 
arate legislative  assemblies. 
The  English  thought  it  best 
that  there  should  be  but  one 
Parliament  in  London,  to 
which  the  Scotch  should  send 
representatives.  They  send 
now  seventy-two.  The  Scotch, 
however,  were  to  retain  many 
of  their  old  laws,  have  their 
own  national  church,  and,  in 
short,  enjoy  practical  inde- 
pendence in  local  affairs.  This  union,  though  at  first  unpopular  in  Scodand,  has 
conferred  unquestioned  benefits  on,  and  proved  a  blessing  to,  both  countries. 
Well  had  it  been  for  England,  had  its  union  with  Ireland  been  accomplished 
under  similar  conditions.  The  union  with  Scodand  was  completed  on  May 
1st,  1707.     Queen  Anne  died  in  1714. 

Anne's  reign  was  rendered  illustrious  by  some  of  the  greatest  names,  both 
in  literature  and  science,  which  England  has  produced.  Foremost  among 
these  IS  that  of  the  great  mathematician  and  philosopher.  Sir  Isaac  Newton. 
Born  at  Woolsthorpe,  Lincolnshire,  in  i  640,  he  studied  at  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity, where  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  profound  mathematical  learning. 


QUEEN    ANNE. 


ENGLAND. 


107 


Returning  home  to  Woolsthorpe  he  pursued  original  investigations,  and  one 
day,  sitting  in  his  garden  there,  the  fall  of  an  apple  suggested  to  him  the  most 
magnificent  discovery  of  science — the  law  of  universal  gravitation.  He  also 
investigated  the  laws  of  light,  and  much  improved  the  telescope.  The  prin- 
cipal results  of  his  labors  are  embodied  in  a  great  work  entided  "  Prin- 
cipia."  He  died  in  1727,  and  his  remains  received  a  resting-place  in  West- 
minster Abbey.     Well  has  Pope  said  of  him  : 

"  Nature  and  nature'.s  laws  lay  hid  in  night; 
God  said,  '  Let  Newton  be ! '  and  there  was  light." 


COSTUMES   OF   A^t^fE■S  TIME. 


Space  permits  us  to  enumerate  only  a  few  more  of  the  illustrious  names 
of  this  brilliant  era.  Eminent  among  these  were  John  Dryden  and  Alexander 
Pope.  Dryden  was  born  of  good  family  in  1631.  He  studied  at  Cambridge, 
and  there  he  laid  the  foundation  of  that  learning  which  enabled  him  to  enrich 
his  prefaces  with  unrivalled  discussions  on  literary  methods.  The  most  dis- 
honorable part  in  Dryden's  character  was  his  political  tergiversation.  He 
.wrote  his  "  Heroic  Stanzas"  in  honor  of  Cromwell,  and  hailed  the  return  of 
Charles  II.  with  his  "Astraea  Redux."  He  was  distinguished  alike  as  a  heroic, 
didactic  and  satirical  poet,  and  as  a  dramatist.  His  verses  on  "Alexander's 
Feast "  have  won  universal  fame.     He  died  in  1 700. 

Alexander  Pope  was  born  in  London  in  1688,  of  Roman  Catholic  parents, 
to  which  faith  he  adhered.  His  father,  a  linen  merchant,  left  considerable 
means,  and  the  poet  acquired  a  delightful  abode  at  Twickenham,  where  he 


108  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

continued  till  his  death  in  1744.  He  was  a  poet  almost  from  infancy,  "lisping 
in  numbers,  for  the  numbers  came,"  and  surpassed  all  his  contemporaries  in 
metrical  harmony  and  correctness.  Among  his  earlier  pieces  we  note  his 
"Essay  on  Criticism,"  "  Rape  of  the  Lock,"  "Windsor  Forest,"  "Epistle  to 
Eloisa "  and  "  Elegy  on  an  Unfortunate  Lady."  His  famous  translation  of 
Homer's  Iliad  and  Odyssey  netted  for  him  the  hitherto  unexampled  sum  of 
upwards -tof  ^8,000.     The  poet  expressed  his  gratitude  in  the  well-known 

couplet: 

"And  thanks  to  Homer,  since  I  live  and  thrive, 
Indebted  to  no  prince  or  peer  alive." 

In  1735  appeared  his  "Essay  on  Man,"  full  of  splendid  passages  of  mingled 
sweetness  and  dignity,  as  seen  in  the  following: 

"  Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast; 
Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be  blessed. 
The  soul  uneasy  and  confined  from  home. 
Rests  and  expatiates  in  a  life  to  come." 

His  "  Dunciad  "  exhibits  his  powers  as  a  satirist. 

Other  great  luminaries  of  this  reign  were :  Joseph  Addison,  editor  of  the 
Spectator,  the  most  elegantly  correct  of  all  England's  prose  writers ;  Daniel 
Defoe,  author  of  "Robinson  Crusoe,"  the  most  realistic  describer  of  scenes 
real  or  imaginary;  and  the  unrivalled  satirist.  Dean  Swift,  whose  most  popular 
work,  "  Gulliver's  Travels,"  has  amused  and  delighted  generations  of  children, 
young  and  old, 

GEORGE   I.         1 714— 1727. 

Anne  was  the  last  of  the  Stuart  dynasty  to  sit  on  the  British  throne.  Her 
unfortunate  brother,  James  III.  (the  child  born  to  James  II.  from  his  second 
marriage),  still  wandered  an  exile  in  France  and  Italy.  He  had  married  a 
princess  belonging  to  the  Polish  house  of  Sobieski,  and  had  a  son  Charles 
Edward.  By  an  act,  called  the  "Act  of  Setdement,"  the  succession  was 
limited  to  the  Princess  Sophia  (grand  daughter  of  James  I.)  and  her  heirs, 
being  Protestants.  The  son  of  this  princess  was  George,  Duke  of  Brunswick 
and  Elector  of  Hanover,  and  he,  accordingly,  on  Anne's  death,  was  called  to 
the  throne,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Stuarts,  father  and  son.  George  was 
a  heavy,  dull  man,  ignorant  of  English,  whose  heart  never  warmed  to 
his  new  subjects,  nor  theirs  to  him.  To  the  last  he  preferred  his  native 
Germany  to  England.  There  still  existed  many  Jacobites  (as  the  adher- 
ents of  the  exiled  Stuarts  were  called)  in  the  kingdom,  particularly  in 
Ireland,  in  the  north  of  England,  where  many  great  families  were  Catholic, 
and  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  where  devotion  to  a  hereditary  chief  was 
the  cardinal  virtue.     In  1715  the  Earl  of  Mar  raised  the  standard  of  rebellion 


ENGLAND.  ■  109 

at  Braemar,  close  to  Balmoral,  where  Queen  Victoria  has  her  Highland  home, 
and  the  clansmen  flocked  to  him  in  thousands.  Forthwith  he  marched  south- 
ward and  was  met  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  at  the  head  of  a  royalist  army,  at 
Sheriffmuir,  near  Dunblane.  There  was  fought  an  indecisive  battle,  in  which 
the  left  wing  of  either  host  fled  in  headlong  flight,  while  the  right  wings  were 
victorious.  This  fight  has  been  graphically  portrayed  in  a  well-known  half- 
humorous,  half  satirical  Scottish  song: 

"  Some  say  that  we  ran,  and  some  say  that  they  ran, 
And  some  say  that  nane  ran  ava',  man ; 
But  of  a'e  thing  I'm  sure,  that  at  Sheriffmuir 
A  battle  there  was  that  I  saw,  man. 
And  we  wan  and  they  ran,  and  they  wan  and  we  ran, 
And  we  ran  and  they  ran  awa',  man." 

This  checked  Mar's  southward  progress,  and  his  army  disbanded  itself. 

At  the  same  time  a  number  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  the  south  of 
Scotland  and  north  of  England — at  the  head  of  whom  were  the  Earl  of  Der- 
wentwater,  the  Lords  Nithsdale,  Kenmare  and  Carnwath — proclaimed  James 
as  King  of  England  and,  joined  by  2,000  Highlanders,  marched  south  as  far  as 
Preston,  where,  being  cooped  up,  they  surrendered  at  discretion  on  the  ver}' 
day  of  Mar's  ineffective  battle  at  Sheriffmuir.  The  leaders  paid  for  their 
treason  with  their  lives. 

The  remainder  of  George's  life  was  passed  in  tranquillity.  He  died  at 
Osnalrack,  on  his  way  towards  his  beloved  Hanover,  in  1727,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  a  son  of  the  same  name. 

This  reign  saw  the  rise  and  development  of  Methodism.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century  England  was  spiritually  moribund.  The  revival  of 
religion  began  with  a  small  group  of  Oxford  students,  among  whom  three 
figures  detach  themselves  from  the  group.  Whitfield,  whose  preaching  pro- 
duced an  excitement  such  as  England  had  never  seen  before  ;  Charles  Wesley, 
who  came  to  add  sweetness  to  this  sudden  and  startling  light,  and  John  Wes- 
ley, who  embodied  in  himself  not  this  or  that  side  of  the  vast  movement,  but 
was  the  movement  itself.  In  power  as  a  preacher  he  stood  next  to  Whitfield ; 
as  a  hymn-writer  he  was  second  only  to  his  brother  Charles,  while  he  pos- 
sessed qualities  in  which  both  were  deficient — an  indefatigable  industry,  cool 
judgment,  and  a  faculty  for  organization.  He  had,  besides,  a  learning  and  skill 
in  writing  which  no  ojther  of  the  Methodists  (as  he  and  his  party  were  called) 
could  lay  claim  to.  His  life,  from  1703  to  1791,  almost  covers  the  centur}-, 
and  the  Methodist  body  had  passed  through  every  phase  of  its  history  ere  he 
sank  into  the  grave  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight.  The  influence  of  this  body  of 
earnest  Christians  on  the  spiritual  life  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  in  Eng- 
land cannot  be  overestimated.     Hitherto  they  had  been  all  but  ignored  by 


no  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

the  aristocratic  church.  No  man  cared  for  their  souls.  When  they  found 
men  who  spoke  to  them  like  brethren  and  sisters,  with  true  earnestness,  power, 
and  love,  they  "  received  the  word  gladly."  In  Wales,  especially,  these  evan- 
gelical men  swept  all  before  them. 


GEORGE   II.         1727— 1760. 

This  king,  like  his  father,  pretended  to  no  accomplishments  beyond  those 
of  a  soldier.  In  his  own  words  he  had  neither  knowledge  of  nor  taste  for 
either  poetry  or  painting.  A  war  having  broken  out  in  Germany,  over  the 
succession  to  the  Empire,  France  and  England,  as  usual,  took  different  sides, 
George  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Dellingen,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Earl  of 
Stair,  won  it.  This  was  the  last  fight  in  which  a  king  of  England  took  per- 
sonal part.  His  son,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  was  shortly  thereafter  defeated 
with  great  loss  by  the  French  at  Fontenoy,  in  1745.  This  defeat  encouraged 
Charles  Edward,  son  of  (the  so-called)  James  III.,  to  make  another  attempt 
to  win  back  the  throne  of  his  fathers.  He  landed  in  the  West  Highlands  and 
the  chieftains,  followed  by  their  clans,  flocked  to  his  standard,  so  that  he  shortly 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  some  thousands  of  mountaineers.  His  exploits 
and  adventures  belong  as  much  to  the  history  of  Scotland  as  that  of  England, 
and  will  be  there  narrated.  Suffice  it  to  say,  his  Highlanders  were  utterly  de- 
feated at  Culloden,  near  Inverness,  in  April,  1 746.  The  subsequent  barbari- 
ties of  Cumberland  have  caused  his  name  to  be  execrated  in  Scotland  to  the 
present  day. 

In  the  reign  of  this  George  the  foundation  of  England's  great  Indian  Empire 
was  laid  by  a  brave  officer  named  Clive,  who  rose  to  be  a  peer  and  governor- 
general  of  India.  The  most  striking  episode  in  this  war  is  that  of  the  Black 
Hole  of  Calcutta.  A  native  Indian  prince,  at  the  head  of  a  large  army,  sud- 
denly came  down  on  this  city,  the  capital  of  the  English  possessions.  Most 
of  the  English  escaped  by  getting  on  board  ships  in  the  Hooghly.  Those  who 
could  not — 146  in  number — were  seized  and,  in  the  hottest  season  of  the  year, 
thrust  into  a  room  twenty  feet  square,  with  only  two  small  grated  windows, 
named  the  "  Black  Hole."  The  heat  and  want  of  pure  air  speedily  deprived 
some  of  existence  ;  others  died  raving  mad,  their  entreaties  for  water  being 
mocked  at,  and  in  the  morning  only  twenty-three  were  found  alive. 

The  vast  territory  of  Canada,  belonging  to  France,  was  also  added  to  the 
British  dominions.  The  final  and  decisive  batde  in  this  war  was  fought  out 
between  French  and  English  troops  under  the  walls  of  Quebec,  September  1 2th, 
1759,  the  gallant  English  General  Wolfe  falling  at  the  very  moment  of  victory. 
As  he  lay  on  the  ground  he  heard  the  officers,  who  stood  sorrowing  around 
him,  exclaim,  "They  run,  they  run!"  "Who  run?"  asked  the  expiring  hero. 


ENGLAND.  HI 

"The  French."  "Then  I  die  happy."  In  this  American  war  with  the  French, 
General  Washington,  then  a  young  officer,  first  signahzed  himself,  fightin"-  on 
the  side  of  England. 

George  II.  died  in  October,  1760. 

In  this  reign  the  British  Museum  was  formed,  turnpikes  established,  and 
canal-making  begun.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  changes  was  the  intro- 
duction of  the  new  style  of  reckoning  time.  Julius  Caesar  fixed  the  Julian 
year  as  consisting  of  365  days,  6  hours.  The  true  year  consists  of  365 
days,  5  hours,  49  minutes.  Hence,  in  the  eighteen  hundred  years  which 
had  elapsed  from  the  time  of  Caesar,  an  error  of  eleven  days  had  crept  in. 
This  was  now  rectified  by  causing  the  second  day  of  January,  1752,  to  be  called 
the  13th.  At  the  same  time  the  year  was  made  to  begin  on  the  ist  of  Janu- 
ary, and  not,  as  formerly,  on  the  25th  of  March. 

In  art,  Hogarth,  the  celebrated  painter  and  engraver,  was  pre-eminently 
distinguished  for  representing  in  pictures  engraved  by  himself  the  follies  and 
vices  of  his  time.  In  1733  appeared  his  six  pictures  of  "The  Harlot's  Proo-- 
ress,"  and  these  were  followed  by  similar  representations  of  dissipation  and 
folly,  such  as  "The  Rake's  Progress,"  "Enraged  Musicians,"  "Marriage  a  la 
Mode,"  "The  Election."  He  died  in  1764,  and  was  interred  at  Chiswick. 
His  monument  bears  an  inscription  by  his  friend  Garrick.  Garrick  ranks  as 
one  of  the  greatest — probably  the  very  greatest — of  English  actors.  He  ex- 
hibited what  has  been  called  a  Shakespearean  universality,  being  equally  at 
home  in  the  highest  flights  of  tragedy,  and  the  lowest  depths  of  farce.  He 
wrote  also  forty  plays,  some  original,  some  adaptations  of  old  plays.  Samuel 
Johnson,  the  lexicographer,  distinguished  both  as  a  poet  and  prose-writer,  and 
yet  more  distinguished  as  a  conversationalist,  as  he  is  depicted  to  us  in  the 
pages  of  Boswell ;  and  Goldsmith,  one  of  England's  most  pleasing  poets,  novel- 
ists and  dramatists — witness  his  "  Deserted  Village,"  "  Vicar  of  Wakefield  " 
and  "  She  Stoops  to  Conquer  " — are  also  to  be  reckoned  among  the  lights  of 
this  reign.  Other  great  names  are  Hume,  the  historian ;  Fielding  and  Smollet, 
novelists  ;  and  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  president  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and 
prince  of  English  portrait  painters. 


GEORGE   III.         1760— 1820. 

Personally,  the  most  remarkable  things  about  this  monarch — a  respectable, 
dull,  obstinate  man — were  the  facts  that  he  reigned  longer  than  any  other 
British  sovereign,  and  that  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  he  suffered  from 
mental  derangement,  so  that  he  could  take  no  part  in  public  affairs.  The 
most  distinguished  political  character  in  this  reign  was  William  Pitt,  probably 
the  ablest  prime-minister  that  ruled  England  from  the  days  of  Wolsey.     He 


112  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

was  by  nature  a  liberal  man,  and  but  for  the  obstinacy  of  the  king  would 
have  emancipated  the  Catholics  and  introduced  other  measures  tending  to  ex- 
tend the  boundaries  of  human  freedom,  for  his  was  too  clear  an  intellect  not  to 
see  whither  the  world  was  trending.  Had  his  counsels  been  followed  it  is 
doubtful  whether  even  our  War  of  Independence  would  have  found  a  place  in 
history  ;  certainly  it  would  have  been  fought  out  on  some  other  issue  than  that 
of  taxation  without  representation.  But  the  history  of  this  war  belongs  to 
American  history  and  will  be  dealt  with  there.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  George's 
pig-headed  obstinacy  lost  England  the  brightest  jewel  in  her  diadem.  Of  this 
loss  the    honest  poet  Burns    speaks    thus,  in    his    birthday  address   to  this 

monarch : 

"  'Tis  very  true,  my  sovereign  king. 
My  skill  may  well  be  doubted  ; 
But  facts  are  chiel.s  that  winna  ding, 
And  downa  be  disputed. 

"  Your  royal  nest  beneath  your  wing 
Is  e'en  right  reft  an  'clouted, 
And  now  the  third  part  of  the  string, 
And  less,  will  gang  about  it 
Than  did  a'e  day." 

France  and  Spain  had  aided  the  United  States,  and  this  provoked  war  with 
them,  in  which  these  coimtries  suffered  greatly  at  sea  by  the  gallantry  of  the 
British  fleet  under  Byron,  Hood,  and  Rodney ;  but  the  most  brilliant  exploit 
was  the  defence  of  Gibraltar  by  Elliot  against  the  combined  fleets  of  these  two 
powers.  Peace  was  concluded  in  1783,  when  American  independence  was 
conclusively  acknowledged. 

For  ten  years  Britain  had  peace,  when  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution, and  the  terrible  scenes  that  followed  thereon,  especially  the  execution 
of  the  king  and  queen,  brought  on  the  longest  and  most  formidable  war  in 
which  Britain  was  ever  engaged.  It  was  by  the  statesmanship  displayed  in 
this  war  that  Pitt  earned  for  himself  the  tides  of  "  the  Heaven-sent  minister  " 
and  "  the  pilot  that  weathered  the  storm."  The  details  of  this  war  will  better 
appear  elsewhere.  Several  British  commanders,  military  and  naval,  won  glory 
in  die  struggle,  as  Abercrombie,  Moore,  St.  Vincent,  and  Hyde  Parker,  but  the 
two  names  that  stand  out  above  all  others  are  those  of  Nelson  and  Wellinor- 
ton.  The  crowning  sea-fight  of  Trafalgar,  won  by  the  former,  shattered  the 
navies  of  France  and  Spain  ;  Waterloo,  won  by  the  latter,  sent  the  Emperor 
Napoleon  to  St.  Helena,  and  closed  the  war. 

The  great  Irish  Rebellion  of  1798  will  find  its  place  in  our  history  of  Ireland. 
Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  in  1801  the  Irish  Parliament  in  Stephen's  Green, 
Dublin,  came  to  an  end  and  Ireland  was  reunited  to  Britain. 

As  already  indicated,  George  III,  was  laid  aside  during  the  last  ten  years 


LORD    BYRON. 


(113) 


114  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

of  his  reign  by  mental  derangement,  during  which  the  government  was  carried 
on  by  a  regency  under  the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  IV. 

To  specify  with  any  degree  of  adequacy  the  progress  made  in  science,  the 
mechanical  inventions,  the  development  of  manufactures,  the  spread  of  trade 
and  commerce,  and  the  manifold  improvements  in  social  life  during  this  reign, 
would  demand  a  large  volume.  Chief  among  these  advances  was  the  practi- 
cal discovery  of  the  steam-engine  by  James  Watt.  This  mechanician,  engineer 
and  man  of  science  was  born  at  Greenock,  Scotland,  in  1736,  his  father  being 
a  respectable  merchant  and  magistrate  of  the  burgh.  He  early  manifested  a 
turn  for  mathematics  and  a  great  interest  in  machines,  and  in  1757  was  ap- 
pointed mathematical  instrument-maker  to  the  University  of  Glasgow.  Living 
in  the  college  in  close  intercourse  with  the  professors,  with  access  to  books, 
he  became  a  diligent  experimenter  in  the  application  of  science  to  the  arts. 
In  1 763  a  Newcomen  air-engine  for  pumping  water  out  of  mines  was  sent  to 
him  for  repair,  and  this  set  him  thinking  of  how  steam  could  be  applied  for 
turning  machinery  in  mills.  In  1769  he  took  out  a  patent  for  an  invention  for 
this  purpose,  and  in  subsequent  years,  down  to  1785,  obtained  patents  for  a 
series  of  inventions  perfecting  his  idea.  In  1774  he  had  become  partner  with 
Matthew  Bolton,  of  Soho,  near  Birmingham,  and  in  this  work  his  first  engine 
was  constructed.  His  discoveries  revolutionized  the  manufacturing  industries 
of  the  world.  Acquiring  a  competency  he  retired  from  business  in  1800,  and 
died  at  Heathfield,  Staffordshire,  in  1819.  Mr.  Arkwright,  afterwards  Sir 
Richard  Arkwright,  made  great  improvements  in  cotton  manufacture  by  the 
invention  of  new  machinery,  while  Mr.  Wedgewood  made  no  less  impor- 
tant improvements  in  the  manufacture  of  china  and  porcelain.  Geographical 
science  was  advanced  by  Captain  Cook,  who  made  three  voyages  around  the 
world. 

The  most  original  and  vigorous  thought  of  this  period  found  its  expression 
in  poetry,  and  amongst  its  great  poets  the  most  noteworthy  are  Byron,  Cole- 
ridge, Wordsworth,  Scott,  the  last  of  whom  is  at  the  head  of  all  the  writers  of 
prose  fiction.  Byron  was  born  in  London,  1 788,  his  father  being  a  profligate 
officer  of  the  guards,  his  mother  of  the  family  of  the  Gordons  of  Gight,  Aber- 
deenshire. His  granduncle,  whom  he  succeeded  in  the  tide,  killed  a  man  in 
a  drunken  brawl,  was  tried  before  the  House  of  Lords  and  acquitted,  but  was 
of  such  a  character  that  till  his  death  he  was  known  as  "  wicked  Lord  Byron." 
Byron's  father  dissipated  his  wife's  fortune  and  deserted  her,  whereupon  she 
retired,  with  her  little  lame  boy,  to  Aberdeen,  to  bring  him  up  on  her  reduced 
income  of  /130  a  year.  Upon  succeeding  to  the  title  in  his  eleventh  year,  he 
was  sent  to  Harrow  School  and  thence  to  Cambridge.  In  early  youth  he 
published  a  collection  of  poems  under  the  title  of"  Hours  of  Idleness."  which 
were  savagely  handled  by  the  Edinburgh  Review.  By  way  of  retort  Byron 
wrote  his  scorching  satire,  "English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers."     To  use 


ENGLAND.  115 

his  own  phrase,  he  rose  one  morning  and  found  himself  famous.  With  the 
wreath  of  triumph  on  his  brow  he  wandered,  for  two  years,  over  Spain, 
Albania,  Greece,  Turkey  and  Asia  Minor,  and  on  his  return  gave  to  the 
world  the  two  first  cantos  of  his  great  poem,  "  Childe  Harold."  Every  one 
saw  the  "  Childe "  was  himself  In  rapid  succession  followed  the  "  Giaour," 
"  Bride  of  Abydos,"  "  Manfred,"  "  Mazeppa,"  "  Don  Juan,"  and  numerous 
other  pieces.  He  returned  to  Greece,  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of 
an  expedition  to  Lepanto,  but  sickened  and  died  in  1824,  aged  thirty-six  years. 
Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge  was  born  at  Ottery,  Devonshire,  in  1772,  his 
father  being  a  clergyman  of  the  English  church.  He  studied  at  Cambridge, 
but  growing  tired  of  college  life  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  a  dragoon 
regiment.  Here  he  was  miserable,  and  one  of  the  officers,  a  scholar,  going  into 
the  stables  one  morning,  found  chalked  up  the  following  sentence  in  Latin : 

"  Eheu  !  quani  infortunii  miserrimum  est  fuisse  beatum  !  " 

Through  this  officer's  influence  he  was  discharged.  Afterwards  he  formed  an 
intimate  friendship  with  Southey  and  Wordsworth,  and  settling  near  each 
other  they  formed  the  s.chool  of  the  "  Lake  Poets."  The  use  of  opium 
shattered  his  system  physically  and  mentally,  and  he  entered  the  family  of  a 
Mr.  Gillem,  Highgate,  where  he  was  cared  for  till  his  death.  His  prose  works 
are  admirable  alike  for  originality,  power  of  thought,  and  felicity  of  diction, 
but  it  is  on  his  "  Christabel"  and  "Rime  of  the  Ancient  Mariner"  that  his 
fame  now  mainly  rests.  As  a  conversationalist  he  was  second  only  to  Samuel 
Johnson.     He  died  in  1834. 

William  Wordsworth  was  born  at  Cockermouth,  Cumberland,  1770,  his 
father  being  law-agent  for  the  Earl  of  Lonsdale.  The  poet  studied  at  Hawks- 
worth  School  and  Cambridge  University.  He  visited  France  in  1791,  and 
hailed  the  French  Revolution  with  enthusiasm : 

"  Bliss  was  it  in  that  dawn  to  be  alive, 
But  to  be  young  was  very  heaven." 

Receiving  two  small  legacies  he  devoted  himself  to  study  and  seclusion, 
forming  a  close  friendship  with  Coleridge  and  Southey.  He  is  regarded  as 
the  head  of  the  "  Lake  School."  At  Rydal  Mount,  on  the  beautiful  lake  of 
Grasmere,  he  lived  for  thirty-one  placid,  happy  years.     Of  this  period  he  says: 

"  Long  have  I  loved  what  I  behold, 

The  night  that  cahiis,  the  day  that  cheers, 

The  common  growth  of  mother-earth 

Suffices  me — her  tears,  her  mirth, 
Her  humblest  mirth  and  tears. 


116  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

"  The  dragon's  wing,  the  magic  ring 
I  shall  not  covet  for  my  dower, 
If  I  along  that  lowly  way 
With  sympathetic  lieart  may  stray 
And  with  a  soul  of  power." 

Even  more  beautifully  he  elsewhere  expresses  his  sympathy  with  all  the 
shows  of  nature: 

"  To  me  the  meanest  flower  that  grows  can  give 
Thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears." 

Being  appointed  distributer  of  stamps  for  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  he 
was  placed  beyond  the  frowns  of  Fortune,  and  on  the  death  of  his  friend 
Southey  was  made  poet-laureate  of  England,  with  an  income  of  /300  a  year. 
He  passed  away  peacefully  in  1850,  in  his  eightieth  year.  His  poems  were 
mostly  written  in  the  open  air  amid  the  scenes  he  loved  so  well,  and  which  he 
has  so  tenderly  depicted.  His  greatest  work  is  "  The  Excursion,"  a  philosoph- 
ical poem  in  blank  verse.  His  other  pieces  are  numerous,  among  which 
we  may  specify :  "The  White  Doe  of  Rylstone,"  "  Sonnets  on  the  River 
Duddon,"  "The  Waggoner,"  "Peter  Bell,"  "Yarrow  Revisited." 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  being  a  Scotchman,  we  refer  to  Scotland. 

We  cannot  close  this  reign  without  referring  to  Chatham,  Fox  and  Burke, 
three  of  the  greatest  orators  of  all  time.  Burke,  had  he  not  been  a  politician, 
would  have  been  one  of  the  lights  of  literature,  as  is  evidenced  by  his  grand 
"  Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful,"  and  many  other  papers.  Goldsmith 
says  of  him,  he 

"  Gave  up  for  party  what  was  meant  for  mankind." 


GEORGE   IV.         1820— 1830. 

Happy  is  the  reign  that  has  no  history.  The  fourth  George's  reign  merits 
this  benediction  so  tar  as  wars  and  outward  complications  were  concerned. 
Otherwise  it  was  marked  by  the  same  fertility  of  mechanical  invention,  the 
same  advance  in  material  prosperity  that  characterized  that  of  his  father.  The 
grand  political  feature  in  this  reign  was  Catholic  emancipadon,  gained  for  his 
Catholic  fellow-countrymen  by  Daniel  O'Connell,  the  Emancipator  of  Ireland. 
This  measure  passed  both  houses  of  Parliament  and  received  the  royal  assent 
in  1829.  George  had  considerable  ability  and  address,  and  from  his  personal 
attractions  and  his  position,  it  was  the  habit  to  style  him  "  The  first  gendeman 
of  Europe."  Allowing  for  the  difference  in  the  customs  and  modes  of  thought 
of  the  ages  in  which  they  lived,  George  IV.  and  the  second  Charles  were  very 
closely  akin  in  character.  His  treatment  of  his  wife  at  and  after  his  coronation 
exposed  him  to  considerable  obloquy.     He  died  in  1830. 


I 


ENGLAND.  117 

This  reign  was  notable  for  the  spread  of  education  among  the  working 
classes  and  the  establishment  of  societies  for  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge 
as  well  as  for  the  mitigation  of  the  severity  of  the  laws.  The  first  steam-boats 
that  worked  for  hire  in  Britain  appeared  on  the  Clyde,  Scotland,  in  i8i  i ;  in 
1822  an  iron  steam-boat  was  launched  on  the  Thames  to  run  between  Eno-- 
land  and  France,  and  four  years  later  a  voyage  was  performed  by  steam  to 
the  West  Indies.  Atlantic  steam  navigation  came  later.  Railways  were 
begun  in  this  reign,  but  there  was  little  passenger  travel  on  them  till  after 
George's  death.  Emigration  to  the  United  States,  Canada,  Australia  and 
South  Africa  was  largely  developed.  George  made  two  journeys — one  to 
Scodand  and  the  other  to  Ireland — he  being  the  first  of  the  House  of  Bruns 
wick  who  ever  visited  either  of  these  two  kingdoms. 


WILLIAM    IV.         1830— 1837. 

George  IV.  left  no  child,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  next  surviving  brother, 
William,  Duke  of  Clarence.  He  had  been  a  sailor  and  was  an  elderly  man 
ere  he  mounted  the  throne.  He  was  a  slow,  good-natured  man,  inclined  to 
befriend  the  people.  The  leading  political  measure  in  his  days  was  the  Reform 
Bill.  The  English  House  of  Commons  is  composed  of  members  represent- 
ing burghs  and  members  representing  counties,  with  a  few  representatives  of 
universities.  Hitherto  the  right  of  electing  members  had  been  restricted  to 
a  few  burgesses  in  each  buroh  and  to  free-holders  in  counties.  Some  ancient 
burghs  sending  members  to  Parliament  had  become  so  much  depopulated 
that  the  owners  of  the  soil  nominated  the  persons  to  represent  them.  These 
were  called  "  pocket  burghs  "  or  "  rotten  burghs."  Old  Sarum,  for  example, 
sent  two  members  and  had  not  one  inhabitant.  On  the  other  hand  several 
great  modern  cities,  as  Manchester  and  Birmingham,  were  not  represented  at 
all.  The  Reform  Bill  of  1832  conferred  the  right  of  voting  on  every  person 
paying  ^/^lo  of  yearly  rent  in  burghs,  and  ^50  in  counties.  At  the  same  time 
fifty-six  burghs  in  England  and  Wales  were  entirely  disfranchised,  and  forty- 
two  new  ones  created.  Since  then  new  reform  measures  have  extended  the 
franchise,  so  that  it  is  now  practically  universal.  Another  great  measure  of 
this  reign  was  the  liberation  of  the  West  Indian  slaves,  at  an  expense  to  the 
mother  country  of  ;^20,ooo,ooo  paid  to  the  slave-owners.  W'illiam  died  in 
1837.  He  was  the  last  English  king  who  reigned  over  the  State  of  Hanover. 
The  Salic  law  prevails  there,  so  that  it  cannot  be  ruled  by  a  woman. 

The  earliest  great  railway  for  passenger  traffic  as  well  as  freight,  that, 
namely,  between  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  was  formally  opened  September 
15th,  1830.  The  London  and  Birmingham  Railway,  the  first  that  had  a  metro- 
politan terminus,  was  opened  in  1838. 


118  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 


VICTORIA.         1837. 

Queen  Victoria  is  daughter  of  Edward,  Duke  of  Kent,  fourth  son  of 
George  III.  In  1818  he  married  the  Princess  of  Laningen,  and  on  May  24th, 
1819,  was  born  his  daughter,  Alexandrina  Victoria,  who  on  the  death  of 
WilHam,  in  1837,  succeeded  to  the  throne,  her  father  being  dead.  She  was 
crowned,  amid  general  rejoicing,  in  Westminster  Abbey,  June  28th,  1838.  In 
February,  1840,  she  married  Albert,  Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg  and  Gotha,  and 
no  woman  had  ever  a  more  faithful  husband.  The  queen's  eldest  daughter, 
the  Princess  Royal,  was  born  November  21st,  1840,  and  her  eldest  son,  Albert 
Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  November  9th,  1841.  She  had  seven  other 
children,  three  sons  and  four  daughters,  the  youngest,  the  Princess  Beatrice, 
being  born  April  14th,  1857.  In  January,  1858,  the  princess  royal  was 
married  to  the  crown-prince  of  Prussia,  and  in  March,  1863,  the  Prince  of 
Wales  married  the  Princess  Alexandra  of  Denmark.  The  Queen  was  left  a 
widow  by  the  sudden  death  of  her  husband,  the  Prince-Consort,  on  December 
14th,  1861.  The  only  child  of  the  queen  who  married  a  subject  is  the  Princess 
Louise,  her  fourth  daughter,  who  in  March,  1871,  became  the  wife  of  the 
Marquis  of  Lome,  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll. 

The  queen  had  been  trained  with  admirable  care  and  solicitude  by  her 
widowed  mother,  and  on  reaching  the  throne  in  her  eighteenth  year,  she  was 
found  not  only  to  be  mistress  of  many  accomplishments,  but  to  be  possessed 
of  a  sound  judgment,  an  excellent  heart,  and  a  real  desire  to  promote  the 
well-being  of  her  subjects.  In  all  her  laudable  efforts  she  was  not  only  en- 
couraged, but  more  generally  guided  by  her  consort,  than  whom  England 
never  had  a  more  intelligent  ruler.  He  devoted  himself  specially  to  schemes 
for  enlightening  the  people  and  advancing  the  arts  of  peace.  In  May,  1857, 
there  was  opened,  under  his  auspices,  in  a  magnificent  structure  of  glass  and 
iron  (called  the  "Crystal  Palace"),  in  Hyde  Park,  London,  the  first  of  those 
great  international  industrial  exhibitions  or  "  world's  fairs,"  which  has  had  so 
many  imitators.  His  object  was  not  only  to  promote  the  material  welfare  of 
the  different  peoples  of  the  world,  but  to  unite  mankind,  more  and  more,  into 
one  great  family. 

Only  two  years  after  this  broke  out  the  great  Crimean  War.  Turkey  had 
long  been  in  a  decaying  state ;  and  one  day  the  Emperor  of  Russia  asked  the 
English  ambassador  if  he  did  not  think  the  Turkish  power  a  very  sick  man 
that  would  soon  be  dead.  The  ambassador  gave  the  emperor  to  understand 
that  the  sick  man,  if  die  he  must,  was  to  be  allowed  to  die  in  peace.  In  reality 
neither  England  nor  France  could  bear  that  Russia  should  gain  a  great  acces- 
sion to  its  power  on  the  Mediterranean.  In  consequence  when  Russia  attacked 
Turkey,  English  and  French  (and  latterly  Italian)  armies  were  sent  to  defend 


PRINCE    OF    WALES. 


ai9j 


120  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

her.  It  was  judged  best  to  carry  the  war  into  Russia  itself,  and  the  result 
was  the  landim^  in  the  Crimea  of  the  English  and  French  armies,  under 
Lord  Raglan  and  Marshal  St.  Arnaiid,  in  the  autumn  of  1854.  A  great 
victory  was  gained  at  the  landing,  in  the  storming  of  the  heights  of  Alma. 
Sebastopol  was  besieged,  and  obstinately  defended  for  a  year.  During  the 
winter  the  English  soldiers  suffered  horribly  through  the  ineptness  of  the 
commissariat  and  other  departments,  and  the  rascality  of  contractors.  Flor- 
ence Nio"htingale  came  to  their  aid  as  a  ministering  angel,  and  by  her  deeds 
of  mercy  to  the  sick  and  wounded  earned  a  name  that  will  never  die.  There 
were  two  more  famous  battles.  One  was  that  of  Balaklava,  in  which  six 
hundred  English  horsemen  charged,  by  a  blunder  of  some  commander,  a  whole 
battery  of  Russian  cannon.    This  is  the  Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade,  celebrated 

by  Tennyson ; 

"  Haifa  league,  half  a  league, 
Haifa  league  onward, 
All  in  the  Valley  of  Death 

Rode  the  six  hundred. 
"  Forward  the  Light  Brigade, 
Charge  for  the  guns,'  he  said  ; 
Into  the  Valley  of  Death 

Rode  the  six  hundred. 

"  Forward,  the  Lig"ht  Brigade! ' 
Was  there  a  man  dismay 'd  ? 
Not,  tho'  the  soldier  knew 

Some  one  had  blunder'd; 
Their's  not  to  make  reply, 
Their's  not  to  reason  why, 
Their's  but  to  do  or  die; 
Into  the  Valley  of  Death 

Rode  the  six  hundred. 

"  Fl  ish'd  all  their  sabres  bare. 
Flashed  as  they  turn'd  in  air 
Sabring  the  gunners  there. 
Charging  an  army,  while 

All  the  world  wonder'd : 
Plunged  in  the  battery  smoke. 
Right  through  the  line  they  broke ; 
Cossack  and  Russian 
Reel'd  from  the  sabre  stroke 
Shattcr'd  and  sunder'd. 

"  Then  they  rode  back,  but  not — 
Not  the  six  hundred.  .  .  . 
When  can  their  glory  fade  ? 
O  !  the  wild  charge  they  made  ! 


ENGLAND.  121 

All  the  world  wonder'd. 
Honor  the  charge  they  made ! 
Honor  the  Light  Brigade, 

Noble  six  hundred !  " 

The  other  fight  was  that  of  Inkerman,  wherein  by  sheer  obstinacy  the 
English  gained  a  decisive  victory.  The  capture  of  the  forts  defending  the 
city,  September  8th,  1855,  forced  the  Russians  to  evacuate  it,  and  a  peace  was 
soon  thereafter  made,  the  Russians  agreeing  to  leave  Turkey  at  peace. 

Scarcely  had  the  rejoicings  for  the  successful  issue  of  the  Crimean  War 
come  to  an  end,  when  news  reached  England  of  the  mutiny  of  the  native 
soldiers  (sepoys)  in  the  British  army  in  India.  The  story  of  this  terrible  out- 
break will  find  place  in  our  account  of  Hindostan.  In  the  meantime  Eng- 
land carried  on  a  successful  war  with  China,  and  acquired  full  possession  of 
Hong-Kong,  and  a  strip  of  coast  territory  on  the  mainland  opposite.  In  1868 
took  place  a  war  with  Theodore,  Emperor  of  Abyssinia,  who  had  shut  up  some 
missionaries  and  skilled  workmen,  invited  by  him  to  his  capital,  Magdala. 
Magdala  was  taken,  the  prisoners  released,  and  the  war  closed  with  scarce  the 
loss  of  a  man.  In  1873-74  a  war  with  the  Ashantees  was  brought  to  a  suc- 
cessful close.  In  1878,  at  the  end  of  a  sharp  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey, 
the  Island  of  Cyprus  was  ceded  to  England  by  the  Turks,  on  account  of  the 
good  offices  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  the  English  premier,  at  the  Berlin  convention. 
In  the  same  year  England  went  to  war  with  the  Afghans,  and  also  with  the 
Zulus  (a  Caffir  people  of  South  Africa),  ultimately  bringing  both  contests  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue.  One  incident  of  the  last  war  cast  a  gloom  over  England.  The 
young  Prince  Napoleon  had  obtained  leave  to  go  out  with  the  English  army 
and  take  part  in  the  campaign.  One  day,  when  out  surveying  the  country,  a 
party  of  natives  sprang  out  of  the  reeds  and  long  grass  upon  him,  and  ere  he 
could  take  horse,  slew  him. 

Immediately  on  the  cessation  of  the  Zulu  campaign,  the  Boers,  the  descend- 
ants of  Dutch  setders  in  South  Africa,  demanded  independence,  and  after  a 
short  war,  this  was  granted  them  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was  then  in  power. 
Egypt  had  been  for  long  in  a  desperate  financial  position  and  unable  to  pay 
the  interest  due  English  and  French  bondholders.  A  system  of  "dual  con- 
trol" was  therefore  established,  in  accordance  with  which  its  finances  were 
managed  by  two  commissioners — one  French,  the  other  English — named  by 
the  respective  governments.  The  Egyptians  ill-brooked  to  see  the  affairs  of 
their  country  controlled,  and  many  of  its  offices  filled,  by  foreigners.  Troubles 
arose,  culminating  in  a  massacre  of  English  and  French  residents  in  Alexan- 
dria. This  city  was  cannonaded  and  captured  by  the  English  fleet.  The 
Khedive  of  Egypt  professed  to  be  content  that  his  country  should  remain  sub- 
ordinate, but  his  minister,  Arabi  Pasha,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the  army, 
took  the  field  against  an  English  land  force,  which  had  been  despatched  to 


122  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

quell  disturbances.  He  was  utterly  routed  by  General  Wolseley  (created 
Lord  Wolseley)  at  Tel-el-Kebir,  and  a  British  force  now  holds  Lower  Egypt. 
But  in  the  Soudan  a  fanatic  appeared  claiming  inspiration,  to  whom  the  Arab 
tribes  flocked  with  enthusiasm.  He  threatened  lower  Egypt.  British  troops 
were  sent  to  check  him.  His  followers  fought  with  the  desperation  of  devotees, 
and  although  his  death  has  brought  a  lull,  the  struggle  is  not  yet  over.  The 
murder  of  the  brave  General  Gordon,  who  volunteered  to  go  to  Assouan,  with 
the  view  of  pacifying  the  Arab  tribes,  brought  much  obloquy  on  Mr.  Glad- 
stone and  his  ministry,  who  encouraged  him  to  undertake  the  mission,  and 
then  left  him  to  his  fate. 

Two  men — neither,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  an  Englishman — have  had 
more  to  do  with  shaping  the  policy  of  England  for  the  last  forty  years  than  all 
others  combined.  These  are  the  late  Earl  of  Beaconsfield  and  Mr.  Gladstone, 
both  distinguished  in  the  literary  as  well  as  in  the  political  world. 

Benjamin  Disraeli  (Lord  Beaconsfield)  was  born  in  1804,  ^^  Bradenham, 
Bucks,  England ;  son  of  Isaac  Disraeli,  author  of  "  Curiosities  of  Literature," 
etc.,  a  landed  proprietor,  and  a  strict  Jew  of  Spanish  origin.  When  but  a  boy 
of  eleven,  young  Disraeli,  with  that  gift  of  prescience  which  distinguished  him 
above  all  men,  professed  the  Christian  faith,  was  baptized,  and  received  into 
the  English  Church.  At  the  age  when  most  youths  go  to  the  University,  he 
entered  a  solicitor's  office  to  qualify  himself  for  a  government  appointment. 
In  1825  he  took  the  world  by  surprise  by  his  novel,  "Vivian  Grey,"  and  this 
was  followed  at  intervals  by  other  brilliant  works  of  fiction,  "The  Young 
Duke,"  "  Coningsby,"  "  Sybil,"  "  Lothair,"  etc.,  etc. 

In  1837  he  entered  Parliament  as  a  Conservative.  His  maiden  speech, 
conceived  in  a  tone  of  high-flown  eloquence,  was  received  with  shouts  of 
laughter.  Stopping,  he  for  a  moment  looked  calmly  around  on  his  derisive 
audience,  and  then,  uttering  these  remarkable  prophetic  words,  "  You  will  not 
hear  me  now,  but  the  time  will  come  when  you  will  hear  me,"  took  his  seat. 
Mr.  Disraeli  adhered  to  Sir  Robert  Peel  till  that  minister  adopted  the  policy 
of  free  trade,  when  his  unrivalled  powers  of  brilliant  invective  and  polished 
sarcasm  raised  him  to  the  leadership  of  the  Conservative  party.  He  rose  to 
be  three  times  Chancellor  of  Exchequer  in  Lord  Derby's  administrations,  and 
in  i860  was  named  by  the  queen  Prime  Minister  of  England,  and  alternated 
with  Mr.  Gladstone  in  that  high  office  till  his  death.  In  1877  he  was  raised 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  with  the  title  of  Earl  Beaconsfield. 

Disraeli's  influence  over  his  party,  in  political  matters,  may  be  said  to  have 
been  supreme.  In  1866  he  prevailed  on  them  to  pass  a  reform  bill  admitting 
a  large  body  of  the  working  classes  to  the  franchise.  Among  other  measures 
due  to  him  we  may  note  the  Congress  of  Berlin  (1878)  on  the  Eastern  Question, 
the  acquisition  of  the  island  of  Cyprus  by  England,  and  of  a  paramount  influ- 
ence in  the  Suez  Canal.     The  tact,  intellect  and  genius  displayed  by  him  at 


HOUSE  OF  PARLIAMENT,  LONDON. 


(133) 


124 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY- 


the  congress  of  plenipotentiaries  at  Berlin  led  Prince  Bismarck  to  pronounce 
him  the  ablest  statesman  in  Europe.  On  his  return,  bringing  "  peace  with 
honor,"  he  was  created  a  Knight  of  the  Garter,  a  D.  C.  L.  of  Oxford  and 
Edinburgh,  and  had  many  other  honors  conferred  on  him.  He  died  at 
Hughenden  Manor,  his  hereditary  estate  in  Bucks  county,  in  1881. 

Since  the  days  of  Pitt  and  Fox,  England  had  never  seen  two  such  great 
competing  statesmen  as  Disraeli  and  Gladstone. 

"  Brethren  in  arms,  yet  rivals  in  renown." 

As  the  former  was  unchallenged  leader  of  the  Conservative  party,  so  Glad- 
stone has  been  followed  with  scarcely  less  unquestioning  obedience  by  the 
Liberals. 

The  Ricrht  Hon.  William  Gladstone,  scholar,  statesman  and  orator,  son  of 
Sir  John  Gladstone,  Bart,  of  Fasque,  Kinardineshire,  Scotland,  was  born, 
1809,  at  Liverpool,  where  his  father,  originally  from  Leith,  had  won  wealth 

and  eminence  as  a  West  India 
merchant.  He  was  educated  at 
Eton  and  Oxford,  closing  a  bril- 
liant career  with  a  double  first 
degree  in  1831.  In  1832  he 
entered  Parliament  as  a  Conserv- 
ative, and  rendered  Sir  Robert 
Peel  eloquent  and  effective  aid 
in  passing  his  free  trade  meas- 
ures through  the  Commons.  Mr. 
Gladstone  has  held  several  offices 
in  many  successive  administrations 
from  1834  downwards;  as  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  under 
Lord  Palmerston,  he  manifested 
such  mastery  of  finance  that  ever 
since  he  has  been  regarded  as  un- 
rivalled in  his  management  of  this 
intricate  subject.  Though  Mr. 
Gladstone's  early  sympathies 
bound  him  strongly  to  the  High 
Church  and  Tory  party,  the  grad- 
ually expanding  liberalism  of  his  ideas  brought  him  frequendy  into  opposition 
to  his  former  friends,  and  eventually,  in  1857,  he  separated  himself  from  the 
Conservative  party,  but  continued  to  represent  Oxford  University,  till  his 
defeat  by  a  Tory  candidate  in  1865.  After  the  death  of  Lord  Palmerston  he 
became  leader  of  the  Liberal  party  in  the  Commons,  and,  since  then,  he  has 


GLADSTONE. 


ENGLAND. 


125 


been  at  the  head  of  each  Liberal  administration.  As  an  orator  Mr.  Gladstone 
has  no  rival  in  Parliament,  and  in  debate  it  is  questionable  if  any  one  since 
the  days  of  Burke  has  equalled  him.  In  1S69  Mr.  Gladstone  passed  a  meas- 
ure disestablishing  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Ireland;  in  1870  he  passed  his 
first  Land  Bill  for  Ireland ;  in  1871  he  abolished  the  army  purchase  system, 
and  in  1872  carried  the  Ballot  Bill.  In  1875  he  announced  his  intention  of 
retiring  from  public  life,  but  some  proposals  of  the  Disraeli  ministry  led  him 
again,  in  1880,  to  precipitate  himself  into  the  political  arena,  when  he  made 
his  marvellous  "Midlothian  Campaign." 

The  reign  of  Victoria  has  been  a  time  of  great  literary  activity,  and  books 
have  multiplied  to  an  unprecedented  degree.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  first  quarter  of  the  century  is  richer  in  names  of  the  highest 
eminence  than  any  subsequent  portion  of  it.  No  poet  approaches  the  heights 
attained  by  Scott,  Byron,  Shelley,  Keats,  Campbell,  Southey,  with  the  single 
exception  of  Tennyson.  This  is  essentially  an  age  of  novels,  reviews  and 
periodicals.  Great  names  in  fiction  are  Dickens,  Thackeray,  Bulwer  Lytton, 
Miss  Bronte  and  Miss  Evans  (George  Eliot).  As  historians  we  quote  Hal- 
lam,  Macaulay,  Carlyle.  Ruskin  is  eminent  as  a  writer  on  art.  In  poetry,  in 
addition  to  Tennyson,  there  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Browning,  Matthew  and  Edwin 
Arnold.     A  notice  of  Carlyle  will  appear  under  Scotland. 

Charles  Dickens  was  born  at  Portsea,  February,  1S12.  His  father  was  a 
comparatively  poor  man,  a  clerk  in  the  navy  pay-ofiice,  and  Charles  was  set 
to  work  in  a  blacking  warehouse  at  six  shillings  a  week.  Undoubtedly  much 
of  his  subsequent  success  was  due  to  his  severe  experience  and  training  here. 
He  learned  the  many  varieties  of  life,  pitiful  and  laughter-moving,  that 
swarmed  in  the  streets  of  London.  His  father's  circumstances  improving,  he 
entered  an  attorney's  ofifice,  and  having  mastered  short-hand,  he  spent  two 
years  in  reporting  law  cases  in  Doctor's  Commons  and  other  courts.  At  nine- 
teen he  entered  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons  as  parliamentary  re- 
porter for  the  newspapers.  His  life  as  an  author  commenced  in  1834.  In 
1836  appeared  his  "  Sketches  by  Boz  "  and  the  "  Pickwick  Papers."  From 
that  moment  his  fame  was  established.  These  were  followed  by  "  Oliver 
Twist,"  "  Nicholas  Nickleby,"  "  Master  Humphrey's  Clock,"  "  Martin  Chuzzle- 
wit,"  etc.  In  1867-68  he  visited  the  United  States,  and  returned  to  England 
with  ^10,000  as  the  result  of  thirty-four  readings.  He  died  in  June,  1870,  and 
received  the  honor  of  interment  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

William  Makepeace  Thackeray  was  born  of  a  good  old  English  family  at 
Calcutta,  in  181 1,  his  father  being  in  the  Indian  civil  service.  He  left  his  son 
a  fortune  of  ^'20,000.  When  seven  years  of  age  the  boy  was  sent  home  to  be 
educated  in  the  Charterhouse  School,  London.  His  ambition  was  to  become 
an  artist,  and  his  drawings  were  quaint,  picturesque,  truthfuil,  yet  they  missed 
the  touches  of  a  master-hand.     Under  the  pseudonym  of  Michael  Angelo  Tit- 


126  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

marsh  he  became  a  contributor  to  the  magazines  and  published  his  "  Sketch- 
books." His  "  Snob  Papers  "  and  "  Jeames'  Diary,"  in  Punch,  first  gave  him 
reputation,  which  was  heightened  and  estabhshed  by  the  appearance  of  "  Vanity 
Fair."  His  remaining  leading  works  are  known  to  all  readers — "  Pendennis," 
"  The  Newcomes,"  "  The  Virginians,"  "  Esmond,"  etc.  He  was  cut  off  in  the 
fullness  of  his  powers  on  the  24th  of  December,  1863. 

Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson,  poet-laureate  of  Britain,  is  son  of  the  Rev.  G.  C. 
Tennyson,  born  at  his  father's  parsonage  of  Somersby,  Lincolnshire,  in  1810. 
He  was  educated  by  his  father  and  at  Cambridge  University,  where  as  an 
undergraduate  he  gained  the  chancellor's  medal  for  a  poem,  the  subject 
being  "  Timbuctoo."  In  1830  appeared  a  volume  of  "  Poems,  Chiefly  Lyrical," 
but  it  was  not  till  1842,  when  a  new  edition  appeared,  with  several  important 
poems  added,  that  his  true  merit  was  generally  recognized.  The  author  of 
such  pieces  as  the  "  Mort  d'Arthur,"  "  Locksley  Hall,"  the  "  May  Queen  "  and 
"  The  Two  Voices,"  was  seen  to  be  entided  to  the  first  rank  among  the  Eng- 
lish poets,  and  this  estimate  was  more  than  sustained  by  the  works  that  fol- 
lowed. In  1850  appeared  his  "In  Memoriam,"  and  on  the  death  of  Words- 
worth, in  1851,  the  laureateship  fell  to  him  as  a  matter  of  course.  "In  Me- 
moriam "  was  followed  in  subsequent  years  by  "Maud,"  "The  Idyls  of  the 
King,"  "  Enoch  Arden,"  "  The  Holy  Grail,"  etc.  He  has  also  produced  some 
dramas.  He  was  raised  to  the  peerage  and  now  enjoys  the  serene  evening 
of  his  days  with  "  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends,"  in  his  pleasant 
residence  of  Somersby,  Isle  of  Wight.  He  has  also  an  estate  and  residence 
in  Surrey. 

Not  only  has  there  been  remarkable  progress  in  the  sciences  during  the 
last  three  reigns,  but  many  novel  theories  have  been  put  forth  in  accord  with 
the  explanation  of  natural  phenomena.  One  of  the  new  theories  that  have 
starded  the  world  is  that  so  ably  propounded  by  Darwin,  and  accepted  by 
many  scientists  of  highest  name,  foreign  as  well  as  British,  regarding  the 
origin  of  species.  Darwin  holds  that  the  various  species  of  plants  and 
animals,  instead  of  being  each  especially  created  and  immutable,  have  all 
sprung  from  the  lowest  form  of  life,  and  by  continual  adaptation,  natural  selec- 
tion, and  survival  of  the  fittest,  have  gone  on  developing  and  improving,  and 
are  still  going  on  indefinitely,  passing  from  lower  forms  to  higher.  Thus,  tak- 
ing the  highest  animal — man — he  began  as  a  mass  of  formless  jelly,  became 
developed  into  a  mollusc,  from  that  into  a  fish,  a  reptile,  a  quadruped,  a  mon- 
key, and  at  last,  after  myriads  of  years  of  development,  he  attained  his  present 
state.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  evolution.  Scarcely  less  novel  is  the  doctrine 
of  conservation  of  forces,  by  which  it  is  shown  that  light,  heat,  electricity,  are 
all  simply  modes  of  motion,  and  convertible  into  each  other.  Chemistry  has 
become  almost  a  new  science,  aided  by  the  reveladons  of  the  spectroscope,  by 
which,  by  merely  examining  the  spectrum,  or  colored  image  of  a  luminous 


ENGLAND. 


127 


body  refracted  through  a  prism,  we  can  determine  its  chemical  structure.  This 
discover)',  due  to  Frauenhofer,  a  distinguished  optician  of  Munich,  enables  the 
chemist  to  determine  the  constituents  not  only  of  bodies  at  hand,  but  of  the 
sun.  stars  and  planets.  The  discoveries  in  magnetism  and  electricity,  by  Sir 
William  Thomson,  Wheatstone,  Morse,  Bell,  and  others,  and  the  application 
of  these  discoveries  to  practical  ends  in  the  telegraphic  wires  and  cables  are 
among  the  most  marvellous  triumphs  of  science,  and  are  contributing  to  unite 
all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth  into  one  great  family.  Scarcely  is  their 
application  in  the  cases  of  the  telephone,  the  phonotype,  and  numerous  other 
reproductive  appliances  less  wonderful  or  less  useful  to  man.  Geology',  the 
youngest  of  all  the  sciences,  has  also  made  immense  strides,  Murchison, 
Lyell,  Geikie,  being  among  its   most  distinguished  exponents.     Nor  in   this 


ST.  PAULS  CATHEDRAL,  LONDON. 


hasty  review  would  it  be  proper  to  pass  over  Owen's  contributions  to  compar- 
ative anatomy  and  physiology.  No  notice  of  English  scientific  progress, 
however  brief  ought  to  omit  the  names  of  Hu.xley  and  Tyndall,  the  two  men 
who,  by  their  writings — at  once  profound,  clear,  and  eloquent — have  done 
more  to  popularize  science  than  almost  any  other  men.  Among  Huxley's 
works  maybe  cited  "  Man's  Place  in  Nature,"  "  Lectures  on  Comparative  Anat- 
omy," "  Lessons  in  Physiology,"  "  Lay  Sermons."  Tyndall's  "  Faraday  as  a 
Discoverer,"  "  Notes  on  Electricity,"  "  Notes  on  Light,"  "  Address  delivered 
before  the  British  Association,"  are  no  less  worthy  of  recognition.  One  fact 
regarding  the  last-named  eminent  man  we  take  pleasure  in  recording.  In  the 
course  of  a  tour  through  the  United  States,  he  netted,  after  paying  expenses, 
$13,000.     Not  one  cent  of  this  did  he  carry  home  with  him.     Before  leaving 


^28  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

for  Europe  he  placed  the  amount  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  authorized  "to 
expend  the  interest  in  aid  of  American  students  who  devote  themselves  to 
original  research." 

The  English  school  of  painting  or  rather  of  the  fine  arts  is  the  youngest  in 
Europe.  In  early  times  foreign  artists  were  employed  in  the  court.  Henry 
\^III.  secured  the  services  of  the  German,  Hans  Holbein;  Charles  I.  patronized 
Rubens  and  brought  over  Van  Dyck.  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller,  a  German,  and 
court  portrait-painter  to  Charles  II.,  was  the  last  of  the  foreigners.  In  1734- 
1 735  from  thirty  to  forty  artists  combined  to  establish  an  academy  in  London 
for  the  study  of  the  human  figure,  Hogarth  being  at  the  head  of  the  move- 
ment. This,  after  thirty-four  years,  developed  into  the  Royal  Academy.  At 
first  the  Enelish  artists  were  much  indebted  to  the  French  school.  Hogarth 
was  the  first  to  introduce  originality,  vigor  and  true  humor  into  native  works, 
in  which  he  has  been  followed  by  Wilkie,  Leslie,  etc.  The  English  school  has 
acquired  a  very  high  position  in  portrait-painting,  witness  the  beautiful  like- 
nesses of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Gainsborough,  Raeburn,  etc.  In  landscape, 
also,  England  holds  a  lofty  place,  as  shown  by  the  works  of  R.  Wilson,  Gains- 
borough, and  especially  Turner,  who  for  wide  range  of  subject  and  rendering 
of  atmospheric  effect  stands  alone.  Constable,  Calcott,  Collins,  Nasmyth,  J. 
Thomson  and  MuUer,  also  have  reached  high  eminence  in  this  branch.  Land- 
seer  in  animal-painting  has  scarcely  been  equalled,  and  he  has  many  worthy  dis- 
ciples. An  important  department  in  painting  is  water-colors,  which  in  Eng- 
land has  attained  far  higher  excellence  than  in  any  other  country. 

We  have  thus  endeavored  briefly  to  give  our  readers  a  view  of  that  coun- 
try— England — which,  small  in  itself,  has  filled  a  place  so  large  in  the  world's 
history.  That  Englishmen  are  proud  of  their  country  and  apt  to  be  boastful 
of  it,  all  the  world  knows.  We  opened  our  narrative  with  a  quotation  from 
England's  greatest  literary  son,  Shakespeare ;  we  close  it  with  a  yet  more  de- 
tailed and  vaunting  eulogium,  put  by  him  into  the  mouth  of  one  of  his  grandest 
historical  characters.  It,  at  least,  shows  us  how  Englishmen  estimate  their 
island  home': 

"  This  royal  throne  of  kings,  this  sceptred  isle, 
This  earth  of  majesty,  this  seat  of  Mars 
This  other  Eden,  demi-paradise. 
This  fortress  built  by  nature  for  herself 
Against  infection  and  the  hand  of  war, 
This  happy  breed  of  men,  this  little  world, 
This  precious  stone  set  in  the  silver  sea, 
Which  serves  it  in  the  office  of  a  wall  .  .  . 
Against  the  envy  of  less  happier  lands, 
This  blessed  plot,  this  earth,  this  realm— this  England." 


IRELAND. 


"  Erin,  O  Erin,  thy  winter  is  past, 
And  the  hope  that  hved  through  it  shall  blossom  at  last." 

^^F  all  the  countries  Ireland  is  par  excellence  the  land  of 
contrasts.  Nowhere  else  will  you  find  such  genuine 
drollery  and  light-hearted  mirth ;  nowhere  greater 
depths  of  pathos  and  heart-rending  woe ;  nowhere 
else  are  brighter  intellects  and  keener  wits  ;  nowhere 
minds  more  beclouded  by  ignorance  and  darkened  by 
superstition  :  in  no  country  on  earth  are  there  more 
orenerous  hearts  or  warmer  friends  ;  nowhere  a  fiercer 
spirit  of  revenge  and  more  deadly  enemies  ;  in  devo- 
tion to  its  religion  and  in  purity  of  morals,  Ireland 
stands  at  the  head  of  all  lands,  yet  nowhere  do  the 
passions  rage  wilder  and  more  uncontrolled. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  aspects  of  outward  nature. 
The  perennial  verdancy  and  richness  of  her  meadows 
and  pasture  lands  have  won  for  Ireland  the  title  of 
"  The  Emerald  Isle  ;  "  her  crystal  streams,  her  lovely 
vales,  her  lakes  unequalled  for  their  charms,  attract 
admirers  of  the  picturesque  and  beautiful  from  every 
land  ;  her  soil  in  respect  of  natural  fertility  is  not  sur- 
passed anywhere,  and  offers  to  the  industrious,  skil- 
ful cultivator  the  richest  reward  for  his  toil ;  yet 
nowhere  will  the  traveller  meet  with  more  gloomy 
stretches  of  unreclaimed  bogs  and  morasses,  more  uninviting  expanses  of 
unproductive  stone-covered  uplands  ;  nowhere  do  the  actual  cultivators  of  the 
soil,  as  a  class,  live  in  such  abject  poverty  and  wretchedness;  from  no  country 
in  Europe  does  so  large  a  proportion  of  its  children  emigrate  in  search  of  a 

living. 

" '  O !  sad  is  my  fate,'  said  the  heart-broken  stranger ; 
'  The  wild  deer  and  wolf  to  a  covert  can  flee ! 
But  I  have  no  refuge  from  famine  and  danger; 
A  home  and  a  country  remain  not  to  me. 

" '  O  Erin,  my  country !  though  sad  and  forsaken, 
In  dreams  I  revisit  thy  sea-beaten  shore ; 
But,  alas !  in  a  far,  foreign  land,  I  awaken 

And  sigh  for  the  friends  that  can  meet  me  no  more.' " 

The  reader  naturally  inquires  the  reason  for  such  a  seemingly  paradoxical 

9  (129) 


J30  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

condition  of  matters.  We  answer  freely  that  it  is  due  to  seven  centuries  of 
unprecedented  oppression  and  misrule.  The  Irish  have  been  treated  as  having 
scarcely  a  right  to  live  on  their  own  soil,  far  less  to  exercise  freedom  of  judg- 
ment or  liberty  of  conscience.  The  keen  sense  of  injustice  operating  on  minds 
naturally  sensitive  has  often  turned  the  milder  blood  of  humanity  into  gall ; 
the  peasant  seeing  himself  despoiled  of  the  fruit  of  his  toil  to  enrich  the  alien 
land-owner,  has  no  encouragement  to  attempt  improvement,  and  has  learned 
to  content  himself  with  a  mode  of  living  scarcely  superior  to  that  of  the  beasts 
around  him.  The  one  redeeming  feature  in  the  whole  case  is,  that  England  now 
has  beo'un  to  awaken  to  a  consciousness  of  the  fact  that  her  treatment  of 
Ireland  has  hitherto  been  scandalous  and  unprofitable  to  herself;  and,  whether 
from  a  sense  of  justice  or  of  her  own  advantage  (or  both  combined),  is  now 
disposed  to  act  in  a  more  generous  spirit. 

The  social  and  political  differences  distinguishing  Ireland  from  Britain  are 
to  be  referred  largely  to  its  position  and  physical  structure.  While  it  is  sepa- 
rated from  America  by  the  whole  width  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  it  is  cut  off 
from  Europe  by  the  greater  island  to  the  east  of  it.  This  isolated  position  has 
till  a  recent  period  shut  out  Ireland  from  contact  with  the  civilizing  influences 
of  Europe,  and  preserved  the  bulk  of  its  inhabitants  much  in  their  primitive 
condition.  The  remarkable  unity  of  its  physical  structure  has  had  even  greater 
social  results,  being  retlected  in  the  unvaried  character  of  its  industry.  The 
centre  of  the  island  appears  as  a  basin  composed  of  fiat  or  gently  swelling 
land,  broken  only  by  lakes  and  traversed  by  one  large  river  (the  Shannon). 
Round  this  central  plain  runs  a  circle  of  hills  and  mountains  forming  a  fringe 
round  the  island.  The  principal  ranges  are  the  Mourne  mountains  in  Down, 
the  Wicklow  mountains,  and  Macgillicuddy  Reeks  in  Kerry,  of  which  the 
loftiest  peak  (Carran-Tual)  rises  to  a  height  of  3,114  feet.  Another  leading 
feature  of  Ireland  is  its  lakes  or  louo-hs.  Loucrh  Neacjh,  in  Antrim,  is  the  grreat- 
est  lake  in  the  British  Isles,  covering  1 50  square  miles.  Associated  with  this 
lough  there  is  a  legend  we  must  not  omit.  Every  one  knows  there  are  no 
snakes  nor  toads  in  Ireland,  and  that  the  country  is  indebted  for  this  immunity 
to  the  blessed  St.  Patrick,  who  from  the  top  of  the  Hill  of  Howth  banished 
them  from  all  the  land. 

The  "  king  of  the  serpents  "  alone,  the  oldest  and  wildest  of  his  tribe,  ob- 
jected to  being  thus  disposed  of,  and  withdrew  to  the  borders  of  Lough  Neagh, 
where  he  took  up  his  winter-quarters.  The  saint  came  on  him  one  bitterly  cold 
day.  He  let  him  sleep  on  till  he  had  provided  a  strong  box,  comfortably  lined' 
with  blankets,  and  furnished  with  the  strongest  lock  and  key  Ireland  could 
supply,  and  an  awfully  heavy  lid.  When  all  was  ready,  Patrick  awoke  the  ser- 
pent and  courteously  invited  him  to  enter  the  fine  dwelHng  he  had  prepared 
for  him.  The  royal  reptile  hesitated,  till  the  saint  urged  him  to  lie  down  in  it, 
just  to  see  whether  it  would  fit.     To  this  the  astute  beast  consented  on  con- 


IRELAND.  131 

dition  that  a  bit  of  his  tail  was  left  out.  The  moment  Patrick  got  him  so  far 
in,  he  slipt  instantly  round,  and  putting  his  shoulder  under  the  lid  raised  it  so 
that  it  came  down  with  a  crash.  The  serpent  pulled  in  its  tail  just  in  time  to 
save  it.  The  saint  at  once  locked  the  chest,  and  with  the  help  of  willing  hands 
placed  it  in  a  boat,  rowed  it  out  to  the  deepest  part  of  the  lough  and  dropped 
it  overboard.  When  the  aged  king  found  himself  entrapped,  his  pleadings 
were  piteous  to  hear.  "  When  will  you  let  me  out  ?  "  he  asked.  "  To-morrow," 
replied  the  saint ;  and  to  this  day  the  lonely  sailor  on  the  lough  can  hear  the 
deceived  reptile  wailingly  inquire,  "  Is  it  to-morrow  yet?"  We  know  there 
are  variations  of  the  legend,  but  we  tell  the  tale  as  it  was  told  to  us. 

Other  expanses  of  fresh  water  are  the  lakes  of  the  rivers  Shannon  and 
Erne,  the  lakes  of  Connemara,  and  the  three  exquisitely  beautiful  lakes  of 
Killarney,  lying  at  the  base  of  the  Macgillicuddy  Reeks.  A  less  attractive 
feature  in  the  landscape  are  its  bogs  or  morasses  occupying  about  a  seventh 
part  of  the  island.  Of  these  the  largest  is  the  Bog  of  Allen,  stretching  in  a 
broad  plain  across  the  centre  of  the  island  and  occupying  a  large  part  of  the 
counties  of  Kildare,  Carlow,  and  King's  County.  These  bogs  in  some  meas- 
ure compensate  Ireland  for  its  comparative  want  of  coal,  supplying  it  with  fuel 
in  the  shape  of  turf  or  peat. 

The  river  system  of  Ireland  is  peculiar,  all  its  streams,  save  the  Shannon, 
risino-  in  the  heights  that  fringe  the  coast  and  after  a  short  course  falling  into 
the  sea  on  the  same  side  of  the  island  on  which  they  rise.  The  Shannon,  on 
the  other  hand,  rises  in  the  north,  and  after  passing  through  the  central  plain 
in  a  series  of  lakes,  along  which  lies  the  most  fertile  soil  of  the  country,  falls 
into  the  Atlantic  by  a  magnificent  estuary,  after  a  course  of  224  miles.  It  is 
the  largest  stream  in  the  British  Isles  and  the  only  really  navigable  river  in 
Ireland.  The  rivers  on  the  north  and  east  of  Ireland  are  unimportant,  only 
the  Liffey  commanding  our  notice,  because  at  its  mouth  stands  Dublin,  the 
capital  of  the  country.  In  the  south  we  note  the  Slaney  and  Barrow,  forming 
Wexford  and  Waterford  harbors  ;  the  Blackwater,  forming  at  its  mouth 
Youghal  harbor ;  the  Lee,  constituting  the  magnificentport  of  Cork  ;  and  the 
Brandon,  Kinsale  harbor.  Several  canals  intersect  the  island  and  render  one 
or  two  of  the  rivers  navigable  to  inland  towns. 

The  moisture  of  Ireland  resulting  from  its  situation  in  the  Adantic  produces 
a  constant  rainfall  that  makes  pasturage  more  profitable  than  tillage,  which, 
except  in  Ulster,  is  generally  in  a  very  backward  state.  The  vast  central  plain, 
excepting  the  portions  covered  by  bogs,  is  clothed  with  almost  continual  verd- 
ure and  constitutes  one  of  the  finest  tracts  of  grazing-land  to  be  found  any- 
where in  the  world.  Of  the  vast  herds  of  catde  fed  on  it  a  large  proportion 
goes  to  England  for  beef  and  the  same  market  takes  the  bulk  of  its  mutton, 
pork,  dairy  produce,  etc.  The  potato  is  the  staple  agricultural  crop  and  main 
ardcle  of  diet,  especially  on  the  small  farms  in  Connaught  and  Munster  ;  but 


132 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


on  the  larger  and  better  cultivated  farms  wheat  is  also  largely  raised  and 
yields  good  returns,  a  large  portion  of  the  crop  being  exported  to  England. 

The  comparative  absence  of  coal  and  the  poverty  of  its  rocks  in  metals 
operate  to  check  the  development  of  manufacturing  industry,  and  to  restrict 
the  people  to  agriculture.  Linen  is  the  staple  textile  product,  Belfast  and  the 
surrounding  districts  of  Ulster  being  the  chief  seats.  About  300,000  persons, 
cliiefly  females,  are  engaged  in  this  industry.  Poplin  is  also  manufactured  to 
a  considerable  extent  in  Dublin.  Whiskey  is  largely  produced,  especially  in 
Leinster  and  Munster.  In  its  fisheries  Ireland  might  possess  an  almost  ex- 
hausdess  source  of  wealth,  but  unfortunately  these  are  by  no  means  adequately 
developed.  Its  mercantile  marine  is  inconsiderable,  being  mainly  engaged  in 
carrying  produce  and  cattle  to  England. 

By  far  the  greatest  number  of  American  travellers  who  visit  Ireland  ap- 
proach it  by  way  of  Queenstown  and  Cork.  Cork  harbor  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  spacious  in  the  kingdom,  being  a  basin  of  ten  square  miles  shut 
in  by  finely  wooded  hills,  while  several  islands  give  variety  and  luxuriance  to 
the  scene.  Queenstown,  where  passengers  from  America  land,  is  finely 
situated  on  Great  Island,  fourteen  miles  east  of  Cork,  with  which  it  is  joined 
by  a  railway.  But  by  far  the  finest  approach  to  Cork  is  by  steam-boat  up  the 
river  Lee,  the  short  sail  being  one  of  the  richest  treats  the  island  can  supply. 

The  hills  fringfinsf  the  rivers 
are  clad  from  summit  to  base 


with  every  variety  of  foliage; 
graceful  villas  and  ornamental 
cottages  are  scattered  in  pro- 
fusion over  the  heights,  while 
every  here  and  there  some 
ancient  ruin  recalls  some  tra- 
dition of  the  past. 

Unhappily,  the  first  pecu- 
liarity to  strike  the  stranger 
on  landing  is  the  multiplicity 
THE  JAUNTING  CAR.  ofbeggars.     Their  wit  and 

humor  are  as  proverbial  as  their  rags  and  wretchedness.  "  You've  lost  all 
your  teeth,"  said  a  tourist  to  a  female  beeear.     "Time  for  me  to  lose  them 

when  I  had  nothing  to  eat,"  was  the  ready  rejoinder.     "  Go  to  ,"  was 

the  coarse  repulse  received  by  a  persevering  woman  from  an  irate  traveller : 
"Ah,  thin,  it's  a  long  journey  yer  honor's  sending  us  on  ;  maybe  yer  honor'll 
give  us  something  to  fill  our  mouths  on  the  way." 

The  characteristic  vehicle  of  Ireland  is  the  jaunting  car.  The  peculiarity 
of  this  car  is  that  the  occupants  sit  with  their  sides  to  the  horses,  overlooking 
the  wheels.     When  there  are  more  passengers  than  one,  they  sit  back  to  back, 


■r«li|!M| 


a33) 


134  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

with  a  "well"  for  the  luggage  between  them.  The  drivers  are  no  less  per- 
tinacious and  no  whit  less  comical  than  the  beggars,  and  the  play  of  wit 
between  the  numerous  competitors  who  shout  and  struggle  to  secure  your 
patronage  is  annoying  or  amusing,  according  to  the  humor  of  the  stranger. 
So  soon  as  you  have  made  your  selection,  or  had  it  made  for  you  by  some 
carman  securing  your  baggage  and  depositing  it  in  his  "well,"  you  scarcely 
ever  fail  to  find  that  you  have  got  an  admirable  guide,  good-humored,  obliging, 
and  intelligent  as  regards  the  objects  worthy  of  notice.  Cork  used  to  be  the 
second  city  of  Ireland,  but  is  now  surpassed  in  population  by  Belfast,  and  still 
more  in  manufactures  and  commerce.  It  is  pleasant  by  reason  of  the  antique 
picturesqueness  of  its  streets,  its  situation  on  the  Lee,  and  the  fine  overhang- 
ing heights.  As  in  most  Irish  towns,  there  are  many  mean  streets,  inhabited 
by  the  poorer  classes.  It  was  here  that  Father  Matthew,  a  Catholic  priest, 
opened  his  temperance  campaign  in  1838,  which  conferred  such  blessings  on 
Ireland,  the  fruits  of  which  are  still  visible.  The  objects  that  meet  the  eye  in 
every  direction  around  Cork  go  to  justify  its  appellation  of  "the  beautiful  city." 
Undoubtedly  the  most  famous  of  these  are 

"  Tlie  groves  of  Blarney  that  are  so  charming," 

with  the  still  more  renowned  stone.  The  "  Blarney  Stone  "  is  one  of  the  stones 
of  the  ruined  Casde  of  Blarney,  which  stands  embosomed  amid  the  "  charming 
groves,"  some  four  miles  north-west  from  Cork.  He  who  kisses  this  stone  is 
ever  after  master  of  a  mellifluous  and  persuasive  tongue,  although  not  neces- 
sarily a  sincere  one.  Especially  is  he  endued  with  the  faculty  of  putting  the 
"Cornhidher"  upon  the  girls,  or  the  gift  of  "  soft  sawder."  The  true  stone 
can  only  be  reached  by  the  visitor  by  being  let  down  some  twenty  feet  from 
the  northern  angle  of  the  lofty  casde.     It  bears  an  inscription  : 

"  Cormac  McCarthy,  fortis,  me  fieri  fecit,  a.  d.  1446;  " 

that  is,  "  Cormack  McCarthy,  the  strong,  caused  me  (the  casde)  to  be  erected, 
1446."  A  touching  story  is  told  in  connection  with  the  casde.  The  descend- 
ants of  the  McCarthys,  like  those  of  nearly  all  the  ancient  families  of  Ireland, 
are  now  among  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  often  working  as  day-laborers  around 
the  casdes  their  forefathers  erected.  The  proprietor  of  a  pordon  of  the 
great  McCarthy  estates  observed  one  evening  an  aged  man  stretched  at  the 
foot  of  an  old  tree,  "  sobbing  as  though  his  heart  would  break."  On  express- 
ing sympathy  with  him,  the  old  man  exclaimed:  "  I  am  a  McCarthy,  once 
the  possessor  of  this  casde  and  these  broad  lands ;  this  tree  I  planted,  and 
have  returned  to  water  it  with  my  tears.  Tomorrow  I  sail  for  Spain,  where 
I  have  been  an  exile  since  the  revolution.  To-night  I  bid  a  last  farewell  to 
the  place  of  my  birth  and  the  home  of  my  ancestors."  The  village  of  Blarney 
%vas  once  clean,  neat  and  thriving,  with  linen  and  cotton  factories.     These 


IRELAND. 


13.5 


works  have  been  swept  away,  and  the  hamlet,  like  the  castle,  is  now  a  collec- 
tion of  ruins.  We  note  this  as  a  specimen  of  the  case  of  many  an  Irish 
village. 

The  lakes  of  Killarney,  lying  at  the  base  of  the  gigantic  Macgillicuddy 
Reeks,  are  world-famed  for  their  loveliness.    They  are  three  in  number,  and  the 


FATHER    MATTHEW. 


beauty,  of  the  scenery  consists  in  the  gracefulness  of  the  mountain  oudines, 
the  rich  and  varied  coloring  of  the  wooded  shores,  deepening  through  gray 
rock  and  lieht  ereen  arbutus  to  brown  mountain  heath  and  dark  firs.  The 
largest  is  the  Lower  Lake,  about  five  miles  long  by  three  broad,  and  studded  by 
no  less  than  thirty  luxuriant  islets.     The  legend  which  accounts  for  the  exist- 


136 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


ence  of  the  lakes  narrates  how  a  fair  young  peasant  girl  was  wont  to  meet 
her  lover  every  night  by  the  side  of  an  enchanted  fountain,  whose  waters 
could  be  kept  in  check  only  by  the  pronunciation  of  a  magic  spell.  The  lovers, 
forcretful  of  all  else  save  the  spell  that  love  cast  over  them,  were  lulled  to  sleep 
in  each  other's  arms  by  the  side  of  the  fountain  without  pronouncing  the 
restraining  words.  At  daybreak  the  girl  awoke,  screaming:  "  The  well !  the 
well !  "  Too  late !  the  waters  rushed  forth  and  overtook  them  as  they  ran. 
They  were  drowned,  along  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  district,  for  in  a  single 


ROSS    CASTLE,    KILLARNEY. 


night  fair  and  fertile  fields,  houses,  castles  and  palaces  were  covered  with 
water,  which  lies  there  yet  to  testify  to  the  truth  of  the  legend.  Several  other 
Irish  lakes,  notably  Lough  Neagh,  originated  in  a  similar  way.  In  ancient 
times  O'Donoghue  of  Ross  was  lord  of  the  great  lake  and  its  islands.  He 
was  brave  and  generous,  and  the  defender  of  the  oppressed.  Annually  he 
revisits  the  pleasant  places  amid  which  he  lived. 

"  So  sweet  is  still  the  breath 
Of  the  fields  and  the  flowers  in  our  youth  we  wandered  o'er." 


IRELAND. 


137 


Every  May  morning  he  may  be  seen  mounted  on  a  white  horse,  richly 
caparisoned,  while  youths  and  maidens  strew  flowers  in  his  way. 

"  When  last  April's  sun  grows  dim, 
The  Naiads  prepare  his  steed  for  him. 
Who  dwells,  bright  lake,  in  thee." 

Many  another  fair  and  romantic  scene,  many  a  legend-haunted  ruin  of 
casde,  monastery  and  abbey,  dots  the  County  Kerry,  but  we  must  pass  them 
over. 

The  most  noted  of  Kerry's  sons  was  Daniel  O'Connell,  liberator  of  Ireland, 
born  in  1775  at  Darrynane  Abbey,  of  which,  with  a  moderate  estate,  he 
was  proprietor.  He  studied  at  St.  Omer, 
France,  and  afterwards  was  a  law-student 
at  Lincoln's  Inn.  He  rose  to  be  the  first 
barrister  in  Ireland,  but  it  was  as  leader  of  the 
party  who  demanded  equal  rights  for  the 
Catholics  that  O'Connell  won  his  fame.  Not- 
withstanding that  Catholics  were  legally  ex- 
cluded from  the  British  Parliament,  O'Connell 
procured  himself  to  be  elected  member  for 
Clare  in  1828,  and  although  he  failed  to  ob- 
tain admission  at  first,  this  decisive  step  led 
to  the  passage  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation 
Act  in  1829.  He  shortly  thereafter  began  to 
agitate  for  Repeal  of  the  Union,  and  although 
he  did  not  live  to  see  his  dreams  of  Irish  leg- 
islative  independence  realized,  yet  he  be- 
queathed the  question  and  the  struggle  to 
his  countrymen,  and  now  it  is  only  a  question 
of  time  when  Ireland  shall  have  her  claim 
conceded. 

"  Freedom's  battle  once  begun. 
Bequeathed  by  bleeding  sire  to  son. 
Though  baffled  oft,  is  ever  won." 

O'Connell  died  at  Rome  in  1847,  honored  by  all.  He  was  a  man  of  tran- 
scendent ability,  and  especially  a  man  of  peace. 

The  mention  of  O'Connell's  name  naturally  suggests  that  of  Parnell,  his 
successor  in  maintaining  the  cause  of  Ireland.  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  was 
born  in  1846,  at  Avondale,  County  Wicklow,  Ireland,  of  which  property  he  is 
owner.  His  mother  is  daughter  of  Admiral  Stewart  of  the  United  States 
navy.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  the  last  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  in 
the  Irish  Parliament.     Educated  at  Cambridge  College,  England,  Mr.  Parnell 


MONUMENT  TO    DANIEL 
OCONNELL. 


138 


THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 


was  in  1875  elected  member  of  Parliament  for  Meath,  and  sat  for  that  county 
till  1880,  when  he  was  chosen  by  three  constituencies,  including  the  city  of 
Cork,  for  which  he  decided  to  sit.  He  is,  although  a  Protestant,  head  of  the 
Irish  Home  Rule  party  ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  several  Irish  popular 
leaders,  as  Smith  O'Brien,  John  Mitchell,  etc.,  have  belonged  to  this  faith.  In 
1881  Mr.  Parnell,  although  a  land-owner,  was  made  first  president  of  the  Land 

League,  the  objects  of  which  are, 
first,  a  reduction  of  rents,  and, 
next,  the  substitution  of  peasant 
proprietors  for  landlords.  In 
1 88 1  Mr.  Parnell  was  impris- 
oned as  a  suspect,  but  speedily 
released.  His  able  conduct  of 
the  Irish  cause  seems  to  promise 
it  early  success.  "  There  are," 
says  an  able  writer,  "three  hun- 
dred years  of  irrefutable  argu- 
ments that  the  English  cannot 
govern  Ireland  by  any  modes 
hitherto  resorted  to."  During 
the  last  few  years,  since  Mr.  Par- 
nell has  taken  the  lead,  the  Irish 
party  have  shown  an  insight,  a 
patience  and  ability  quite  equal 
to  any  section  of  British  admin- 
istration. 

It  would  be  easy  to  extend 
the  bead-roll  of  Irish  patriots 
almost  indefinitely.  The  names  of  Grattan,  Curran,  Shiel,  Smith  O'Brien, 
Mitchell,  Butt,  etc.,  etc.,  rise  uncalled  for  to  the  memory.  We  satisfy  our- 
selves, however,  with  speaking  in  briefest  detail,  of  only  two  other  great  Irish- 
men, both  distinguished  ornaments  of  literature  as  well  as  patriots,  namely, 
Edmund  Burke  and  Thomas  Moore.  Edmund  Burke,  distinguished  above  all 
men  of  his  times  for  eloquence  and  political  foresight,  was  born  in  1730,  in 
Dublin,  where  his  father  was  an  attorney.  Educated  at  Dublin  University,  he 
early  gained  fame  as  a  writer,  his  most  renowned  work  being  his  Essay  on  the 
Stcblimc  and  Beautiful.  He  became  member  of  successive  Parliaments,  a 
member  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  held  high  ofifice  under  several  governments. 
He  was  an  able  advocate  of  the  claims  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  while  towards 
America  he  always  advocated  a  policy  of  conciliation  and  justice.  Few  men 
have  received  higher  panegyrics  than  Burke,  and  few  so  well  deserved  them. 
He  was  noble-minded,  pure  in  morals,  and  richly  endowed  intellectually.     He 


CHARLES    STEWART    PARNELL 


IRELAND. 


139 


died  in  1798,  in  his  sixty-eighth  year.  Thomas  Moore,  one  of  the  finest  lyri- 
cal poets  the  world  has  seen,  was  also  born  in  Dublin,  in  1779,  his  father  bein<y 
a  small  tradesman.  He  studied  at  Dublin  University,  where  he  translated  the 
"  Odes  of  Anacreon."  Other  well-known  poetical  works  are :  "  Irish  Melodies," 
"  Lalla  Rookh,"  "  Loves  of  the  Angels,"  "  Two-penny  Post-bag."  He  published 
also  an  excellent  life  of  his  friend  Byron.  He  died  in  1852.  He  was  a  lover  of 
his  country,  but  too  much  of  a  courtier  to  advocate  its  claims  effectively. 

The  chief  part  of  the  County  of  Limerick  consists  of  a  broad  plain,  bordering 
the  Shannon,  called  from  its  fertility  the  Golden  Vale.  This,  with  the  plains 
of  Boyle,  in  Roscommon,  is  the  richest  land  in 
Britain.  Limerick  is  an  ancient  city,  on  both 
sides  of  the.  Shannon,  of  40,000  inhabitants. 
Before  its  walls  were  defeated,  first  the  Anglo- 
Norman  chivalry,  then  the  Ironsides  of  Crom- 
well, and  last,  the  victorious  army  of  William 
III.  The  treaty  made  after  this  victory  was 
broken  by  William  ;  hence  Limerick  is  known 
as  the  "  city  of  the  violated  treaty."  The 
"  treaty  stone  "  still  marks  the  spot  where  the 
document  was  signed.  Galway  is  the  largest 
city  in  Connaught,  having  a  population  of 
about  fifteen  thousand.  Some  of  the  older 
houses  have  a  Spanish  appearance,  from  the 
close  connection  between  Galway  and  Spain 
in  bygone  times.  To  one  house  an  interest- 
ing legend  appertains.  The  mayor,  James  birthplace  of  tom  moore. 
Lynch,  in  1493,  condemned  his  own  son  to  death  for  murder.  The  lad  was  a 
favorite  with  the  people,  and  to  prevent  him  from  being  rescued,  his  father  caused 
him  to  be  hanged  from  his  own  window ;  some  say  he  hanged  him  with  his  own 
hand,  and  never  after  was  seen  to  smile  or  even  look  up.  In  this  we  probably 
see  the  origin  of  the  term  "  Lynch  Law."  One  suburb  of  Galway  is  the  Clad- 
dagh,  inhabited  by  fishermen,  who  exclude  all  strangers  from  their  society, 
and  marry  only  among  themselves.  These  fishermen  still  speak  the  Irish 
language,  and  the  women  wear  the  Irish  costume.  Sailing  north-east  from 
Derry  we  come  to  the  Giant's  Causeway,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  natural 
objects  anywhere  to  be  seen.  It  is  impossible,  indeed,  for  painter  to  portray  or 
the  imagination  to  conceive  a  scene  more  wonderful  than  this,  consisting  of 
innumerable  octagonal  pillars  of  basalt,  towering  to  the  height  of  several  hun- 
dred feet  along  the  sea  margin;  with  many  groined  caves,  natural  bridges, 
chasms,  etc.,  interspersed.  The  shore  between  the  base  of  the  pillared  cliffs 
and  the  water  is  paved,  as  it  were,  by  the  bases  of  multitudinous  other  pillars, 
dipping  gradually  to  the  sea,  and  giving  the  impression  of  a  regular  causeway 


140 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


formed  by  giants.  Legendary  tradition  tells  us  that  the  causeway  was  con- 
structed by  the  Irish  giant,  Finn  McCoul,  to  enable  the  Scottish  giant  Banandon- 
ner  to  come  over  and  receive  the  benefit  of  a  beating  without  wetting  his  feet. 
Turning  southward,  a  visit  to  the  thriving  manufacturing  and  commercial 
town  of  Belfast  will  well  repay  the  traveller,  and  still  farther  south  he  finds 
Dublin,  the  capital  of  Ireland,  on  a  bay  beautiful  as  that  of  Naples,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Liffey.  The  leading  features  of  Dublin  are  its  casde,  its  university,  its 
four  courts,  its  custom-house,  its  ancient  Parliament-house  in  Stephen's  Green,, 
shortly  to  be  reoccupied,  its  noble  Phoenix  Park,  and  the  Lord-Lieutenant's 
Lodge.     Some  of  its  streets,  as  Sackville  street,  Westmoreland  street,  etc.,  are 


THE   GIANT'S    CAUSEWAY. 


very  nrie,  and  it  possesses  several  excellent  statues  and  monuments,  notably 
that  to  the  hero  Nelson.     The  population  is  about  300,000. 

No  traveller  can  leave  Ireland  without  seeing  the  Vale  of  Avoca  in  the 
County  Wicklow,  celebrated  by  the  poet  Moore.  It  is  formed  by  the  junction 
of  two  streams,  Avon  and  Avoca,  which  uniting  here  into  one,  run  for  nme 
miles  through  an  exquisitely  picturesque  vale  only  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide, 
with  wooded  banks  300  to  500  feet  high. 

"There's  not  in  the  wide  wodd  a  valley  so  sweet 
As  that  vale  in  whose  bosom  the  bright  waters  meet ; 
Oh  !  the  last  ray  of  feeling  and  life  must  depart, 
Ere  the  bloom  of  that  valley  shall  fade  from  my  heart. 


IRELAND.  141 

"Sweet  vale  of  Avoca!  how  calm  could  I  rest 
In  thy  bosom  of  shade  with  the  friends  I  love  best, 
Where  the  storms  that  we  feel  in  the  cold  world  should  cease. 
And  our  hearts,  like  thy  waters,  be  mingled  in  peace." 

The  primitive  inhabitants  of  Ireland  were  Kelts,  akin  to  the  Kells  of  Brit- 
ain. Little  is  known  of  the  island  till  the  time  of  Laegaire  McNeill,  chief  mon- 
arch of  Ireland  (430),  when  St.  Patrick  converted  the  natives  to  Christianity. 
In  early  times  there  were  five  provinces  in  Ireland — Ulster,  Leinster,  Meath, 
Connaught,  Munster — and  the  head  monarch  or  ardrigh  ruled  over  the  cen- 
tral district  of  Meath,  residing  at  Tara.  By  the  sixth  century  extensive  mon- 
asteries had  been  founded,  from  which  rayed  forth  culture  to  the  surround- 
ing countries,  and  missionaries  issued  to  carry  Christianity  to  pagan  nations. 
Among  the  most  celebrated  of  these  missionaries  was  Columba,  who  converted 
Scotland.  The  progress  of  Irish  civilization  was  checked  by  the  incursions  of 
the  Danes  towards  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  who  harrassed  the  land  for 
300  years,  till  overthrown  by  Brian  Boru,  rnonarch  of  Ireland,  at  Clontarf,  near 
Dublin,  in  1014.  From  the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  century  Ireland  produced 
many  scholars  of  eminence,  and  several  books,  as  the  "  Book  of  Kells,"  survive 
to  prove  their  acquirements.  Under  the  history  of  England  we  have  told  how 
Ireland  fell  under  English  rule.  Gradually  the  old  chiefs  were  expelled,  and 
their  estates  confiscated  on  the  charge  of  treason  or  rebellion  and  given  to 
Englishmen.  Many  times  did  the  Irish  revolt  and  attempt  to  expel  their  Eng- 
lish rulers.  After  the  suppression  of  an  insurrection  under  Fitzgerald,  son  of 
the  viceroy  of  Henry  VIII.,  in  1534,  some  of  the  native  princes  were  induced 
to  acknowledge  Henry,  and  accept  peerages.  The  attempts  of  the  English 
government  to  introduce  the  Reformed  faith  stirred  up  the  revolt  of  the  Earl 
of  Desmond,  whose  vast  estates  in  Munster  were,  after  his  death  in  1583, 
parcelled  out  to  English  settlers. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  great  Ulster  chiefs,  O'Neill 
and  O'Donnell,  made  a  successful  stand  till  they  were  recognized  as  the 
earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnell.  Fearing  danger,  these  nobles  in  1608  re- 
tired to  the  Continent,  and  James  I.  carried  out  a  project  of  parcelling  out  the 
north  of  Ireland  to  Scotch  and  English  settlers.  This  was  the  famous  "  Plan- 
tation of  Ulster."  In  1641  the  Irish  rose  and  massacred  some  40,000  Protest- 
ants. The  country  continued  troubled  till  1649,  when  Cromwell  overran  it. 
At  the  revolution  the  Irish  Catholics  took  the  part  of  James  II.,  while  the  Scotch 
and  English  colonists  stood  for  William  and  Mary.  The  war  raged  for  four 
years  (i  688-1 692)  the  most  memorable  batde  being  that  on  the  banks  of  the 
Boyne  (July  12th,  1690,)  in  which  William  completely  defeated  James.  The 
supporters  of  William  are  represented  by  the  Orangemen,  so  called  because 
he  was  Prince  of  Orange.  From  this  time  for  nearly  a  century  history  records 
little  but  the  passing  of  penal  statutes  against  Catholics,  and  the  disaffection 


142 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


caused  by  these  gave  birth  to  the  rebellion  of  1798.  On  the  suppression  of 
this  in  i8cx),  the  legislative  union  of  Ireland  and  England  was  consummated, 
and  since  then  the  history  of  the  two  countries  has  been  the  same. 

Ireland  has  contributed  nobly  to  English  literature,  witness  the  names  of 
Oliver   Goldsmith,   Laurence    Sterne,   Miss  Edgeworth,   Sheridan    Knowles, 


Carleton,  Lover,  Lever,  Maginn,  etc.  Burke  and  Moore  have  been  previously 
mentioned.  The  country  cannot  be  said  to  have  a  distinct  school  of  art,  but 
it  has  given  to  the  British  school  Sir  Martin  Shea,  president  of  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy ;  Maclise,  one  of  the  greatest  British  masters  of  the  human  figure ; 
Barry,  architect  of  the  British  Parliament-house  ;   Hogan,  the  sculptor,  and 


IRELAND. 


143 


Balfe,  the  composer.     In  science,  she  boasts  the  names  of  the  Earl  of  Rosse, 
the  astronomer  ;  Kane,  the  chemist ;  Hull,  the  geologist,  and  many  others. 

Moore,  the  great  Irish  national   poet,  whilst  meditating  upon  the  wrongs 
and  sufferings  of  his  native  land,  compared  it  to  Sion,  in  that  it  too  had  been 


CUSTOM    HOUSE,    DUBLIN. 

compelled  to  drink  of  "the  cup  of  trembling."  Nevertheless  the  impression 
was  strong  in  his  mind  that  there  was  a  bright  future  before  it.  And  under 
the  influence  of  this  conviction  he  sang : 

"  The  nations  have  fallen,  and  thou  still  art  young, 

Thy  sun  is  but  rising,  when  others  are  set, 
And  though  slavery's  cloud  o'er  thy  morning  hath  hung, 

The  full  moon  of  freedom  shall  beam  round  thee  yet. 
Erin,  oh  Erin,  though  long  in  the  shade. 
Thy  star  will  shine  out  when  the  proudest  shall  fade." 


EDINBURGH. 


SCOTLAND. 


"  O  Caledonia !  Stern  and  wild  I 
Meet  nurse  for  a  poetic  child  ! 
Land  of  brown  heath  and  shaggy  wood ; 
Land  of  the  mountain  and  the  flood." 

*UCH  are  the  enthusiastically  patriotic  lines  with  which  Sir  Walter 
Scott  salutes  "  his  own,  his  native  land,"  and  surely,  if  ever  any 
land  merited  the  love  and  devotion  of  its  children,  it  is  this  little 
rugged  land  of  Scotland.  Separated  from  its  powerful  neighbor, 
England,  by  only  an  imaginary  line,  with  not  one-tenth  part  of  its 
population,  and  not  one-twentieth  of  its  resources  and  wealth,  it 
yet  maintained  its  independence  through  centuries  of  arduous 
struggle ;  and,  though  devastated  and  impoverished,  preferred 
freedom  with  penury  to  submission  and  humiliation  with  ease  and 
Well  has  her  earliest  real  poet,  Barbor,  the  contemporary  of 
Chaucer,  who  so  nobly  sung  "  The  Bruce,"  voiced  the  national  sentiment : 

(144) 


SCOTLAND.  145 

"  Ah  !  freedom  is  a  noble  thing ! 
Freedom  makes  man  to  have  hking : 
Freedom  all  solace  to  man  gives  ; 
He  lives  at  peace  that  freely  lives." 

"The  fundamental  difference  "  said  Gladstone,  in  his  speech  on  Home  Rule 
for  Ireland,  delivered  at  Glasgow,  June  21st,  1886,  "between  the  union  of 
England  and  Scodand,  and  England  and  Ireland,  was,  that  Scodand  was  al- 
ways able  to  hold  her  own  with  England.  Scotland  met  England  on  a  footing 
of  equality  ;  while  the  case  was  altogether  different  with  unfortunate  Ireland." 

No  country  in  Europe  has  made  such  advances  in  material  prosperity, 
during  the  last  century,  as  Scotland,  and  few  have  kept  pace  with  her  in 
literary  advancement.  In  1780  Scotland  was  one  of  the  poorest  and  least 
known  of  nations;  in  1887  it  is  scarcely  surpassed  by  any  in  wealth  and 
industrial  activity,  or  in  material,  intellectual  and  moral  civilization.     This  re- 


HOME   OF    ROBERT    BURNS. 

markable  progress  is  to  be  traced  to  various  causes.  Undoubtedly,  at  the 
basis  lies  the  character  of  its  people,  who  for  energy,  intelligence,  ioresight, 
perseverance  and  thrift  are  famed  the  world  over.  Not  less  clearly  the  admir- 
able system  of  religious  and  educational  training  insdtuted  at  the  Reformation 
by  John  Knox,  her  "Great  Reformer"  (which  provided  that  there  should  be  a 
church  and  school  for  every  thousand  people),  had  much  to  do  in  laying  the 
foundation,  and  developing  many  of  the  best  traits  of  this  national  character. 
Over  and  above  these,  Scotland  possesses  in  abundance  those  treasures  of 
mineral  wealth  (especially  of  coal  and  iron)  in  which  Ireland  is  so  deficient ; 
while  her  peculiar  topographical  conformation  affords  to  her  inland  districts 
facilities  for  water  communication  quite  unequalled. 

It  is  worth  our  while,  therefore,  to  survey,  for  a  brief  space,  the  salient 
10 


146  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

features  of  this  rugged  little  land,  than  which  none  more  picturesque  is  any- 
where to  be  found,  as  well  as  a  few  of  the  leading  events  in  its  history.  The 
mainland  of  Scotland  is  die  northern  and  smaller  division  of  the  island  of  Great 
Britain,  lying  between  54°  38'  and  58°  40'  30"  N.  The  longest  line  that  can 
be  drawn  on  it  is  between  its  most  southerly  point  (the  Mull  of  Galloway)  and 
its  most  northerly  (Dunnet  Head),  287  miles.  Its  breadth  is  extremely 
irre^^ular,  varying  from  182  miles  at  its  broadest  part,  to  24  at  the  narrowest; 
but  the  whole  coast  is  so  interpenetrated  by  arms  of  the  sea,  in  the  forms  of 
firths  or  estuaries,  and  lochs,  that  there  is  but  one  spot  on  the  mainland  more 
than  40  miles  from  the  shore.  No  country  has  so  many  islands  lying  off  its 
coasts.  These  islands  may  be  classed  into  three  groups,  viz. :  the  Hebrides 
or  Western  Isles,  dotting  all  the  western  coast,  and  the  Orkney  and  Shetland 
groups,  stretching  northward  to  latitude  60°  50'.  The  entire  area  of  the 
country  is  31,300  square  miles,  of  which  26,000  are  in  the  mainland,  and  the 
balance  in  the  islands.  The  population  is  over  4,000,000,  of  which  333,000  are 
Highlanders,  the  remaining  3,750,000  being  Lowlanders.  One-third  of  the 
population  lies  within  a  radius  of  20  miles  round  Glasgow. 

As  compared  with  England,  the  general  aspect  of  Scotland  is  rough  and 
mountainous,  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  country  spreading  out  into  level 
plains.  Assuming  its  whole  acreage  (exclusive  of  the  lakes)  to  be  19,000,000, 
it  is  estimated  that  not  more  than  6,000,000  are  arable ;  but  it  may  be  safely 
said  that  from  no  other  six  millions  of  acres  in  the  world  of  only  equal  fertility 
is  so  much  produce  taken  for  human  consumption.  Although  there  are  no 
great  plains,  there  are  numerous  valleys  and  tracts  of  comparatively  level  land, 
known  as  "dales"  or  "straths,"  lying  between  the  mountain  ranges,  and 
many  stretches  of  rich  alluvial  land,  known  as  "  carses,"  "  haughs "  and 
"  holms,"  lying  along  its  coasts  or  on  the  margins  of  its  estuaries  and  streams. 

Scotland  consists  of  two  great  divisions  inhabited  by  two  distinct  races' of 
people,  differing  from  each  other  in  origin,  customs,  speech  and  dress.  If  the 
reader  will  look  at  a  map  of  Scotland,  he  will  observe  a  range  of  mountains, 
with  numerous  spurs  and  outliers,  bearing  the  general  name  of  Grampians, 
starting  from  Dumbarton,  on  the  Clyde,  and  running  in  a  north-easterly  direc- 
tion towards  Aberdeen.  All  west  of  this  line  is  known  as  Highlands  ;  all  east 
and  south  as  Lowlands.  The  range  dies  away  before  reaching  the  Murray 
Firth,  so  that,  in  reality,  all  the  east-coast  country  up  to  the  extreme  north 
may,  with  certain  exceptions,  be  properly  regarded  as  Lowland.  The  High- 
land district  is  generally  characterized  by  romantic  scenery,  wild,  precipitous 
mountains,  dreary  moorlands,  lochs  or  lakes,  and  rushing  streams,  deep  glens 
and  wild,  hanging  woods ;  the  Lowlands,  though  presenting  several  consider- 
able mountain  ranges,  is  much  less  ruesfed  in  its  sreneral  character.  The 
Higiilands  are  inhabited  by  a  Keltic  race  akin  to  the  native  Irish,  and  speaking 
a  dialect  of  Irish  known  as  Gaelic,  and  having  for  their  national  garb  the  tartan 


SCOTLAND.  147 

kilt  or  philabeg,  plaid,  etc.  The  Lowlanders  are  a  Teutonic  race  speakina  a 
pure  form  of  early  English,  and  wearing  practically  the  same  dress  with  the 
people  of  England.  In  the  extreme  north  is  the  county  of  Caithness,  a  level 
district  inhabited  by  a  Norse  population  of  the  same  race  w^ith  the  natives  of 
the  Orkney  and  Shetland  islands,  in  some  of  the  most  northerly  of  which  the 
Norwegian  language  continued  to  be  spoken  down  to  near  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century. 

If  the  reader  would  learn  the  condition  of  the  Highlanders  down  to  the  end 
of  the  last  century,  we  must  refer  him  to  the  pages  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who 
may  be  said  to  have  discovered  this  region  to  the  civilized  world.  Each  sepa- 
rate glen  was  inhabited  by  its  own  clan,  all  bearing  the  name  of  their  chieftain 
— Cameron,  Macdonald,  Macleod,  Campbell,  Grant,  etc. — to  whom  they  were 
bound  by  real  or  supposed  ties  of  family  relationship,  and  for  whom  they 
fought  and  died  without  question  ;  devotion  to  their  chief  being  almost  their  * 
sole  idea  of  religion.  War  may  be  said  to  have  been  almost  their  normal 
condition,  feuds  between  clans  being  incessant  and  handed  down  from  father 
to  son  for  generations.  Their  more  peculiar  weapons  were  the  claymore  or 
broadsword,  dirk  and  targe.     Says  Scott: 

"111  fared  it  then  with  Roderick  Dhu, 
That  on  the  ground  his  tarsje  he  threw, 
Whose  brazen  studs  and  tough  bull-hide 
Had  death  so  often  dashed  aside." 

The  bag-pipe  was,  and  is,  their  national  instrument  of  music,  and  to  its 
martial  strains  the  Highland  regiments  still  march  to  "  death  or  glory." 

"And  wild  and  high  the  '  Cameron's  gathering '  rose, 

The  war-note  of  Lochiel,  which  Albyn's  hills 
Have  heard,  and  heard,  too,  have  her  Saxon  foes : 

How  in  the  noon  of  night  that  pibroch  thrills 

Savage  and  shrill !  but  with  the  breath  which  fills 
Their  mountain  pipe,  so  fill  the  mountaineers 

With  the  fierce  native  daring  which  instils 
The  stirring  memory  of  a  thousand  years, 
And  Evan's,  Donald's  fame,  rings  in  each  clansman's  ears ! " 

The  people  lived  largely  on  the  produce  of  the  chase  and  fishing.  Setded 
industry  they  despised  as  unmanly,  the  women  doing  all  the  drudgery,  even 
on  their  miserable  patches  of  cultivation.  Their  grand  resources  were 
"forays"  into  the  Lowlands,  whence  they  were  Avont  to  return  with  whole 
herds  of  "  lifted  "  catde.  These  systematic  raids  gave  rise  to  the  practice  of 
blackmailing,  it  being  the  custom  of  the  rich  Lowland  proprietors  living  near 
the  Highland  line  to  pay  some  powerful  chief  a  percentage  on  the  value  of  his 
stock,  to  insure  it  against  being  stolen,  or  if  stolen  by  others,  followed  by  his 


148 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


clan  and  returned.  Robert  McGregor — better  known  as  Rob  Roy — chieftain 
of  the  outlawed  clan  McGregor,  is  the  type  of  the  Highland  robber-chief  and 
blackmailer.     No  name  is  more  popular  in  the  Highlands. 

Roads  there  were  none,  nor  wheeled  carriages.  After  the  rebellion  of 
I  7 1 5  General  Wade  constructed  excellent  roads  in  all  directions  for  military 
purposes.  This  was  the  beginning  of  civilization.  The  gratitude  of  the  poor 
people  for  the  unmeant  blessing  is  tersely  expressed  in  the  distich: 

"  Mad  you  seen  these  roads,  before  they  iverc  made, 
You  would  hold  up  your  hands  and  bless  General  Wade." 

In  1 746  the  chiefs  were  deprived  of  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  their 
vassals.  Then  schools  and  churches  began  to  be  planted,  and  in  1784  the 
Hio^hland  Agricultural  Society  was  established,  with  the  greatest  benefit  to  the 
district.  Since  then  progress  has  been  rapid.  Much  money  has  been  brought 
into  the  Highlands  by  sheep-farming  and  the  letting  of  deer  forests  (in  which, 
by  the  way,  there  is  seldom  a  tree)  to  southern  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  and  now 
this  region  promises  shortly  to  be  as  flourishing  as  the  Lowlands  or  England, 

Space  will  not  permit  us  to  dilate  on  the  former  state  of  the  Lowlands. 
Gibson,  describing  Glasgow  (now  the  second  city  in  the  empire)  in  i  707,  says : 
"  The  number  of  people  did  not  exceed  14,000,  and  they  were  in  general  poor; 
manufactures  were  almost  unknown,  and  commerce  was  carried  on  to  a  very 
trifling  extent."  Now  a  greater  number  of  the  largest  and  finest  class  of 
steam-ships  are  built  on  the  Clyde,  at  and  below  Glasgow,  than  on  any  other 
river  in  the  world.  It  is  there  that  nearly  all  "  the  greyhounds  of  the  ocean  " 
are  designed,  fabricated  and  engined.  Agriculture  was  equally  backward. 
There  were  no  inclosures,  no  green  crops,  no  clover,  potatoes  or  turnips. 
The  land  was  cultivated  "  runrig,"  that  is,  ridge  and  ridge  about  by  neighbors 
in  common.  The  farmers  dwelt  in  houses  little  better  than  hovels.  Now, 
Scotland  stands  at  the  head  of  the  agricultural  world.  The  larger  tenant 
farmers,  especially  in  the  richer  districts,  as  East  and  Midlothian,  Berwickshire, 
Easter  Ross,  Aberdeen,  etc.,  live  in  a  state  of  comfort  and  even  dignity  that 
must  be  seen  to  be  realized.  Many  of  them  pay  annual  rents  of  ;^  1,000,  and 
some  far  more,  and  their  solid,  stone-built  mansions  are  an  ornament  to  the 
country.  The  average  rental  of  the  available  land  is  from  £\  to  ^5  per  acre 
a  year.  Even  more  carefully  and  more  scientifically  than  in  England,  every 
rood  is  cleared,  and  made  to  yield  its  utmost.  It  is  held  that  a  farmer  ought 
to  have  a  capital  oi  £\o  for  every  acre  of  his  farm.  In  the  more  improved 
districts  this  is  deemed  insufficient.  The  crops  raised  are  oats,  wheat  (in  the 
more  kindly  districts),  barley,  potatoes,  beans,  etc.  In  no  country  are  turnips 
cultivated  with  such  success.  Oats  yield  from  fifty  to  seventy  bushels  an 
acre,  the  standard  weight  of  the  bushel  being  forty-two  pounds,  but  this  is 
generally  exceeded.     Bariey  is  largely  grown  to  be  distilled  into  whiskey, 


t 

1 


SCOTLAND.  149 

which  manufacture  is  more  extensively  pursued  here  than  elsewhere.  The 
principal  seats  of  this  industry  are  the  Isle  of  Islay  and  Campbelltown  in 
Argyleshire,  and  Glenlivet  in  Banff  The  finest  catde  that  reach  the  London 
market  are  the  "prime  Scots"  from  Aberdeenshire  and  Banffshire,  bringing 
when  two  and  a  half  years  old  from  $1 50  to  ^180  a  head.  Ten  years  ago  prices 
were  even  higher,  and  the  feeders  were  among  the  weal'thiest  farmers  in  the 
world,  but  the  introduction  of  American  beef  has  reduced  prices,  and  corre- 
spondingly diminished  or  abolished  the  farmers'  profits.  Agricultural  servants 
are  generally  hired  by  the  half-year,  the  men  receiving  at  the  rate  of  from  /lo 
to  ^i  5  for  six  months,  with  board.  Laborers  are  commonly  housed  in  well-built 
stone  houses.  They  earn  from  $3.50  to  $4.50  a  week.  The  land  of  Scotland 
is  in  fewer  hands  than  that  of  any  other  country,  several  of  its  nobles,  as  the 
Dukes  of  Buccleuch,  Sutherland,  Richmond,  Hamilton,  Argyle,  Athole,  the 
Earls  of  Breadalbane,  Fife,  Seafield,  etc.,  owning  estates  each  covering  hun-. 
dreds  of  thousands  of  acres.  As  an  offset  their  tenants  are  much  better  off 
than  those  of  the  smaller  proprietors  and  lairds.  The  princely  castles  of  these 
and  other  peers,  and  the  stately  mansions  of  hundreds  of  other  great  proprie- 
tors, with  their  beautiful  gardens  and  surroundings,  confer  grace  and  dignity 
on  the  landscape. 

The  fisheries  of  Scotland  are  of  high  importance  and  pursued  with  skill  and 
enterprise.  The  herring  and  salmon  fisheries,  in  particular,  are  tlie  most  im- 
portant of  their  kind  in  the  world.  From  one  river,  the  Spey,  the  Duke  of 
Richmond,  the  chief  proprietor  of  the  salmon  fishing,  is  said  to  derive  an 
income  of  ^12,000  a  year.  Nothing  connected  with  the  Scottish  fisheries  so 
greatly  arrests  the  attention  of  spectators  as  the  "  Newhaven  Fishwives." 
Large  brawny  women,  clean  and  tidy,  clad  in  a  picturesque  costume,  which  is 
not  to  be  found,  in  all  points,  worn  by  any  other  class  of  women  in  any  country, 
walk,  three  or  four  times  a  week,  early  in  the  morning,  to  Edinburgh  from 
Newhaven — a  distance  of  three  miles — carrying  large  baskets  of  fish,  which 
have  been  freshly  caught  by  their  husbands.  Their  singular  cry  of  "  caller 
herrin"  (fresh  herring),  mingling  with  the  sound  of  church  bells  on  a  week- 
day, suggested  to  the  Scottish  violinist,  Neil  Gow,  a  song  of  that  name. 

The  national  religion  of  Scotland  is  Presbyterianism,  about  lour-fifths  of 
the  people  adhering  to  this  form.  But  the  original  Presbyterian  Church  has 
now*  been  split  into  four  branches,  viz. :  the  Established,  the  Free,  the  United, 
and  the  Reformed.  In  the  thirty-three  counties  of  Scotland  there  are  about 
1,300  parishes,  and  in  each  of  these  there  is  an  established  church.  The  aver- 
age income  of  the  parish  minister  is  ^300  a  year,  with  a  manse  and  glebe. 
But  now  not  more  than  half  of  the  Presbyterian  people  are  found  in  the  state 
church.  The  Free  Church  has  nearly  1,000  churches  ;  the  United  Presby- 
terian, 620 ;  the  Reformed,  44.  The  aristocracy  largely  profess  Episcopacy, 
which  has  180  churches.     In  a  few  districts  there  are  found  nadve  Catholics, 


150 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


but  the  Catholic  Church  is  mainly  attended  by  immigrant  Irish.  There  are  be- 
sides, especially  in  the  towns,  congregations  of  Methodists,  Congregationalists, 
Baptists,  etc. 

Scodand  has  four  universities — Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Aberdeen,  St.  An- 
(irews with  an  average  attendance  of  over  5,000  students.  Its  common- 
school  system  is  among  the  most  perfect  in  the  world,  attendance  being  com- 
pulsory and  rigidly  enforced.  The  teachers'  incomes  range  from  ^140  to 
;{^2  50  a  year  in  country  districts,  with  dwelling-house  and  garden. 

No  country  of  equal  size  has  furnished  a  greater  number  of  illustrious 
names  to  literature,  science  and  art,  than  Scotland.  Her  misfortune  is  that 
her  most  eminent  sons  are  apt  to  emigrate  to  England  and  to  become  recog- 
nized as  Englishmen.  In  the  si.xteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  William 
Dunbar,  Gavin  Douglas,  Sir  David  Lindsay  and  Drummond,  of  Hawthornden, 
were  distinguished  poets  ;  and  Bishop  Burnet  a  historian  of  high  repute.  In 
the  eighteenth  she  produced  the  sweet  song-writers.  Miss  Elliott,  Mrs.  Cock- 
burn  and  Baroness  Nairn,  whose  fine  songs,  "The  Flowers  of  the  Forest," 
"  Land  o'  the  Leal  "  and  "  Laird  o'  Cockpen,"  are  known  to  all ;  as  well  as 
Thomson,  bard  of  the  seasons ;  Reld  and  Dugald  Stewart,  philosophers ; 
Adam  Smith,  political  economist ;  Robertson,  historian,  and  David  Hume, 
Britain's  best  metaphysician  and  historian.  High  over  all  these  towers  her 
national  bard,  Robert  Burns.     In  the  present  century  space  permits  us  to  name 

only  Hogg,  the  Ettrick  shepherd,  a  true 
peasant  son  of  genius  ;  Allan  Cunningham  ; 
William  Black  and  George  Macdonald, 
novelists  ;  and,  again  surpassing  all  their 
coevals,  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  Thomas 
Carlyle.  Macaulay  and  Gladstone,  though 
Scotch  by  blood,  were  born  and  trained  in 
England.  Byron  and  Brougham  were  half 
Scotch  and  partly  reared  in  Scotland.  In 
science,  Scotland  has  the  names  of  Napier, 
inventor  of  logarithms  ;  James  Watt,  dis- 
coverer of  the  power  of  steam  ;  the  Hun- 
ters (William  and  John),  comparative  anat- 
omists ;  Sir  James  Simpson  (anaesthetics) ; 
Murchison,  Lyell,  Hugh  Miller,  Ramsay, 
Geikie,  greatest  of  geologists  ;  and  Sir  Wil- 
liam Thomson,  probably  the  foremost  of 
living  men  in  several  departments  of  natural 
science.  In  art,  the  annual  exhibitions  in  Edinburgh  testify  to  her  high  place. 
We  name  only  Sir  David  Wilkie,  Raeburn,  Thorburn  (miniaturist,  etc.),  the 
Faeds,  Nicol,  Sir  Noel  Baton. 


ROBERT   BURNS. 


(151) 


152 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


We  have  distinguished  three  names  as  illustrious  in  literature  above  others, 
Burns,  Scott,  Carlyle.     We  devote  a  few  special  words  to  each. 

Robert  Burns,  bard  of  Scotland,  was  born  in  a  poor  "  clay-biggin  "  by  the 
banks  of  Doon,  Ayrshire,  January  25th,  1 759.  His  father  was  a  poor  working 
gardener,  and  afterwards  became  a  yet  poorer  man  as  a  farmer.  Burns,  like 
all  Scotch  children,  received  such  a  common-school  education,  that  he  tells  us 
that  at  the  age  of  ten  or  eleven  he  was  "  a  critic  in  substantives,  verbs,  and 
particles."  He  soon  became  a  critic  in  a  more  dangerous  lore,  and  love  for 
his  youthful  companion  in  the  harvest-field  inspired  his  first  song,  written  in 
his  sixteenth  year.  In  1781  he  entered,  with  his  brother  Gilbert,  on  the  farm 
of  Mossgiel,  where  he  continued  the  struggle  with  poverty  and  misfortune  that 
accompanied  him  all  his  too  short  life.     In  1786  his  first  volume  of  poetry  was 


TWA    BRIGS   O      AYR. 


published  at  Kilmarnock  ;  subsequent  editions  were  published  in  Edinburgh. 
Among  his  pieces,  marked  by  wondrous  graphic  power,  dramatic  spirit 
and  humor,  we  may  instance  his  "  Tam  O'Shanter,"  "  Jolly  Beggars,"  "  Twa 
Dogs,""  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook,"  "Twa  Brigs  o'  Ayr."  Tenderness,  truth 
and  sensibility  characterize  his  "  Cotter's  Saturday  Night,"  and  his  addresses 
to  the  "  Mountain  Daisy  "  and  the  "  Mouse."  His  love  songs  are  instinct  with 
passion  and  exquisite  in  their  beauty,  while  no  such  patriotic  lyric  as  "  Bruce's 
Address  "  was  ever  penned.  Burns,  after  failing  as  a  farmer,  became  an  excise- 
officer,  residing  in  Dumfries,  where  he  fell  into  somewhat  dissipated  habits  and 
died,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six,  July  21st,  1796. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  "  Ariosto  of  the  North,"  was  born  at  Edinburgh, 
August  15th,  1 771,  his  father  being  a  lawyer  of  good  standing,  allied  to  the 
good  old  border  family  of  Scott,  of  Harden.     He  was  educated  at  Edinburgh 


SCOTLAND. 


15a 


University,  and,  on  leaving  college,  was  called  to  the  bar.  Subsequendy  he 
was  appointed  sheriff  of  Selkirkshire,  with  a  salary  of  ;^300  a  year,  and,  at  a 
later  period,  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Session,  with  ^1,300  a  year.  Ballad  min- 
strelsy had  great  charms  for  him,  and  he  used  to  hunt  up  old  ballads  in  Liddes- 
daleand  the  borders  generally,  which  he  afterwards  published.     His  first  orig- 


inal work  was  a  translation  of  Burger's  "  Lenore,"  and  "The  Wild  Hunts- 
man ;  "  but  he  was  comparatively  unknown  till,  in  1805,  appeared  his  "  Lay  of 
the  Last  Minstrel,"  which  instandy  stamped  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  liv- 
ing poets.  This  was  followed  by  "  The  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  "  Marmion,"  "  Lord 
of  the  Isles,"  etc.  But  it  was  when  his  first  novel,  "  Waverly  "  appeared  in 
18 14,  that  he  was  recognized  as  the  true  "Wizard  of  the  North."     This  was 


154 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


followed  by  a  long  and  magnificent  series  of  prose  fictions,  comprising  "  Guy 
Mannering,"  "  Antiquary,"  "  Old  Mortality,"  "  Rob  Roy,"  "  Ivanhoe,"  etc.  It 
was  Scott's  ambition  to  found  a  family  seat,  and  with  this  view,  he  made  many 
purchases  of  land  on  the  banks  of  his  favorite  Tweed,  where  he  erected  his 
mao-nificent  mansion  or  castle  of  Abbotsford.  To  crown  his  honors  a  baronetcy 
was  conferred  on  him.  He  was  associated  with  the  business  of  James  Ballan- 
tine  &  Co.,  publishers,  Edinburgh,  and  in  1826  this  house  failed  for  close  on 
$600,000.     In  four  years  Scott  paid  off  $280,000,  but  he  succumbed  under  the 


strain,  and  died,  universally  beloved  and  lamented,  at  Abbotsford,  September, 
1832.     He  was  buried  in  Dryburgh  Abbey. 

Thomas  Carlyle,  essayist,  biographer  and  historian,  the  most  powerful, 
original,  and  brilliant  writer  that  Britain  has  seen  since  the  days  of  Shake- 
speare, was  born  in  1795,  at  Ecclefechan,  Dumfries-shire,  his  father  being  a 
stone-mason  and  later  a  small  farmer.  He  was  educated  at  the  School  of  An- 
nan, and  latterly  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  studied  seven  years 
with  a  view  to  the  church.     At  college  his  habits  were  lonely  and  contempla- 


!«: 


y 


SCOTLAND.  155 

tive,  and  the  stones  told  of  his  immense  reading  are  almost  fabulous.  About 
the  middle  of  his  curriculum  he  felt  disinclined  to  enter  the  ministry,  and  after 
a  short  period  spent  in  teaching  at  Dysart,  Fifeshire,  he  adopted  literature  as 
his  profession.  His  first  efforts  appeared  in  Brewster's  "  Encyclopedia."  In 
1824  appeared  his  translation  of "  Willhelm  Meister's  Apprenticeship."  In 
1827  he  married,  and  retired  to  his  wife's  lonely  Jitde  estate  of  Craigen-puttock, 
amid  the  hills  of  Dumfries-shire.  Here,  from  1830  to  1833,  he  was  employed 
upon  probably  his  ablest  work,  "Sartor  Resartus,"  which  appeared  in  Fraser's 
Magazine.  During  the  negotiations  for  its  publication  he  removed  to  Chelsea, 
London,  where  he  was  recognized  by  the  title  of  the  "  sage  of  Chelsea."  Here 
he  produced  his  "  French  Revolution,"  "Latter  Day  Pamphlets,"  "Life  of  John 
Stirling,"  "  Oliver  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,"  "  Life  of  Frederick  the 
Great,"  etc.,  etc.  The  honors  conferred  on  Carlyle  are  almost  too  numerous 
to  enumerate,  the  culminating  one  being  his  election  as  lord  rector  of  Edin- 
burgh University.  In  1875,  he  declined  an  offer  of  the  Grand  Cross  of  the 
Bath.  He  died  in  1880,  and  was  interred,  by  his  own  request,  beside  his 
mother,  in  the  humble  churchyard  of  his  native  Ecclefechan. 

The  irregular  surface  of  Scotland  has  given  rise  to  much  picturesque  and 
beautiful  scenery.  Her  rivers,  hurrying  to  the  sea  from  their  lofty  sources, 
are  especially  pure  and  limpid,  and  their  praises  have  been  sung  by  many  a 
Scottish  bard,  as  well  as  by  the  nature-loving  Wordsworth.  None  excels  the 
"pastoral  Tweed,"  on  whose  banks  stand  many  a  lordly  hall  and  ruin  of  keel- 
house,  castle,  and  monastery.  Noticeable  among  these  is  Abbotsford,  the 
seat  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  Dryburgh  Abbey,  where  he  lies.  Foremost  of  all 
the  gems  of  fair  Tweedside,  however,  is  Melrose  Abbey,  the  finest  monastic 
ruin  in  Europe.     It  is  to  it  that  Scott  addresses  his  famed  apostrophe,  begin- 


nmg: 


"  If  thou  wouldst  view  fair  Melrose  aright 
Go  visit  it  by  the  pale  moonlight ; 
For  the  gay  beams  of  lightsome  day 
Gild  but  to  flout  the  ruins  grey." 

On  this  river  stand  the  towns  of  Innerliethen  and  Galashiels,  noted  for  the 
manufacture  of  the  famous  Scotch  Tweeds,  and  at  its  mcmth  is  Berwick,  a  town 
which  at  the  union  was  left  neither  in  Scotland  nor  England.  For  several 
miles  before  falling  into  the  sea,  the  Tweed  forms  the  boundary  between  the 
two  countries.  Passing  the  lonely  Yarrow  flowing  amid  its  green  hills  and 
famed  St.  Mary's  Loch,  we  reach  the  Forth,  which  rising  near  Ben  Lomond, 
flows  east  past  the  town  of  Stirling,  with  its  casde-crowned  rock,  and  then  in 
various  "links"  through  the  rich  "  Carse  of  Stiriing,"  till  it  widens  into  the 
Firth  of  Forth.  The  view  from  the  casde  of  Stiriing  is  one  of  the  finest  in 
the  world,  being  rivalled  only  by  that  from  the  hill  of  Kinnoul,  on  the  Tay, 
from  which  can  be  surveyed  the  renowned  "  Carse  of  Gowrie,"  with  its  fine 


156  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

farms  and  smiling  villages,  the  city  of  Perth,  and,  it  is  said,  the  castles  of  seven 
noblemen.  Edinburgh,  the  capital  of  Scodand,  is  situated  about  two  miles  to 
the  south  of  the  Firth  of  Forth.  From  the  beauty  of  its  buildings,  monuments 
and  gardens,  and  above  all  for  the  picturesque  grandeur  of  its  situation,  Edin- 
burgh is  by  many  held  to  be  the  finest  city  in  the  world.  Its  port  is  Leith. 
The  population  of  both  towns  is  250,000.  North  of  the  Forth  is  the  Tay,  the 
largest  river  in  Scodand,  on  whose  banks  stands  Perth,  already  mentioned. 
Farther  down,  on  the  Firth  of  Tay,  stands  the  busy  town  of  Dundee,  with  im- 
mense manufactories  of  jute,  coarse  linen,  sail  cloth,  and  a  very  large  shipping 
trade.  Its  population  is  upwards  of  1 20,000,  being  the  third  town  in  Scodand. 
To  the  north  of  Dundee  lie  the  ports  of  Arbroath  and  Montrose,  both  with 
large  linen  manufactories.  Still  farther  north  we  reach  the  "  Highland  Dee," 
Byron's  river,  over  whose  source  broods  the  "  dark  Lochnagar."  This  is  a 
grandly  romantic  stream,  famous  for  the  excellent  sport  it  affords  to  the  rod- 
fisher.  On  its  banks  stand  the  royal  castle  of  Balmoral,  as  well  as  several 
other  noble  residences.  Aberdeen,  a  town  of  some  90,000  inhabitants,  a 
flourishing  sea-port,  lies  at  its  mouth. 

Pursuing  our  journey  north  and  w^estward  we  pass  Peterhead  and  Fraser- 
burgh, on  the  Moray  Firth,  great  seats  of  the  herring  and  whale  fisheries,  and 
Elgin,  with  a  ruined  cathedral  which  ranks  next  to  Melrose.  We  then  reach 
the  Spey,  whose  strath  gives  name  to  the  dance-music  of  Scotland  known  as 
"  Strathspeys."  We  are  now  fairly  into  the  Highlands,  and,  a  few  miles  west 
from  Speymouth,  we  reach  Inverness,  the  capital  of  the  Highlands,  a  prosper- 
ous town  of  1 5,000  inhabitants,  with  a  fine  old  castle,  vitrified  fort,  etc.  In 
Inverness-shire  are  the  islands  of  lona  and  Staffa.  In  the  former,  Columba,  an 
Irish  Saint,  who  Christianized  Scodand,  built  his  church  and  cell  in  the  sixth 
century.  The  ruins  of  several  churches  are  still  to  be  seen,  and  in  the  holy 
ground  the  kings  of  Scodand  used  to  be  interred.  Staffa  is  noted  for  a  cave 
with  basaltic  columns  of  the  same  character  as  those  of  the  Giant's  Causeway. 

Scotland  is  essentially  a  country  of  mountains,  the  highest  peaks  being  in 
the  Highlands.  Of  these  we  note  only  Ben  Nevis,  a  solitary  mountain  in  the 
Grampian  group,  reaching  a  height  of  4,400  feet.  Ben  Macdhui,  and  three 
others  in  the  Cairngorm  group,  exceed  4,000  feet.  The  main  range  in  the 
Lowlands  separates  Dumfries  from  Peebles  and  Lanarkshires.  Broadlow  and 
the  Lowthers  in  this  range  approach  3,000  feet. 

It  is  impossible  with  the  space  at  our  disposal  even  to  name  the  many 
natural  objects  of  interest  in  Scodand.  We  cannot,  however,  omit  its  many 
tme  passes,  of  which  the  Trosachs,  famed  by  Scott,  is  an  example;  nor  its  in- 
land lochs  or  lakes,  as  Lochlomond,  Lochkatrine.  etc.  ;  nor  its  waterfalls,  as  the 
Falls  of  Clyde,  of  Foyers,  Gray  Mare's  Tail,  etc. 

Scottish  history  becomes  of  interest  only  after  the  death  of  Alexander  III., 
one  of  the  ablest  and  best  of  Scodand's  kings,  in  1286.     An  old  rhyme  tells 


SCOTLAND. 


157 


how,  under  him,  the  land  had  blessed  peace,  and  plenty  of  "meal  and  malt." 
His  heiress  was  his  granddaughter,  Margaret,  the  maiden  of  Norway,  who 
died  in  1290,  on  her  way  to  assume  the  crown.  Forthwith  there  began  a 
struggle  for  the  succession,  the  two  chief  claimants  being  Edward  Baliol  and 
Robert  Bruce.  The  question  was  referred  to  Edward  I.,  of  England,  who  de- 
cided  in  favor  of  Baliol,  on  his  promising  to  recognize  Edward  as  his  over-lord. 
The  bondage  and  humiliation  of  his  position  became  intolerable  to  Baliol  and 
his  people,  and  they  rose  in  opposition.  Edward  defeated  Baliol's  army  at 
Dunbar,  and  Baliol  having  surrendered  himself  to  Edward  was,  after  being 
kept  prisoner  for  three  years,  allowed  to  retire  to  France.  Edward  now 
treated  Scotland  as  a  conquered  country,  Earl  Warenne  was  appointed  gov- 
ernor, and  all  the  offices  were  given  to  Englishmen.  The  Scots  groaned 
under  the  degradation,  and  in  1297  William  Wallace,  whose  name  will  be  re- 
vered as  long  as  patriotism,  undaunted 
courage,  and  love  of  freedom  is  held  in 
respect  among  men,  appeared  as  the 
champion  of  his  native  land.  He  was  but 
the  son  of  a  country  gentleman  of  small 
estate ;  yet,  when  he  stood  forth  to  rescue 
his  country,  he  was  joined  by  several  of 
the  nobility,  and,  notwithstanding  the  jeal- 
ousies of  many  nobles,  he  held  the  foe  at 
bay  for  eight  years,  pushing  at  one  time 
his  victorious  arms  into  England.  At 
last,  in  1304,  he  was  betrayed  into  the 
hands  of  Edward,  who  ungenerously  put 
him  to  a  cruel  death.  But  the  struggle 
did  not  terminate  with  the  patriot's  death. 
Robert  Bruce,  son  of  the  competitor,  now 
stood  forth  to  enforce  his  claim  to  the 
Scottish  throne.  He  collected  an  army  ; 
and  the  crown  of  Scotland  was  placed  on 
his  head  by  the  Countess  of  Buchan,  at 
Scone,  Bruce  sitting  on  the  same  "  stone 
of  fate "  on  which  Queen  Victoria  sat 
when  she  was  crowned  queen  of  Great  Britain.  Long  and  bitter  was  the 
struggle  between  Edward,  the  "  Hammer  of  the  Scots,"  and  the  gallant  and 
skilful  Bruce.  At  last,  in  1307,  Edward,  determined  to  crush  the  Scots,  sent 
for  all  his  forces  to  meet  him  at  Carlisle.  But  a  sterner  summons  awaited 
himself,  and  he  died  near  that  city  on  July  7th,  1307.  Bruce  now  drove  the 
English  out  of  the  country  step  by  step,  till,  in  1314,  Edward  II.  raised  an  im- 
mense host  and  marched  north  to  crush  Bruce  and  the  Scots  forever.     The 


t»t'iii»aiinii-i»6-t».'''>^ 


158 


THE   GULDEN   TREASURY. 


armies  met  on  the  24th  of  June,  at  Bannockburn,  and  the  result  was  the  com- 
plete and  final  discomfiture  of  the  English,  who  never  again  ventured  to  at- 
tempt the  conquest  of  Scodand.  Constant  wars  there  were  between  the  lands, 
but  this  was  greatly  because  the  Scotch  thus  lent  aid  to  France  in  defending 
itself  against  England,  so  that  it  passed  into  a  proverb  : 

"  He  that  would  France  win  must  with  Scotland  first  begin." 

Scotland  has  been  the  scene  of  much  partisan  warfare,  both  secular  and 
religious.     Her  great  wars  of  this  class  have  been  in  conjunction  with  affiliat- 


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ROYAL  REGALIA  OF  SCOTLAND. 


ing  parties  in  her  southern  neighbor,  England.  Under  the  head  of  "  England" 
we  have  already  alluded  to  the  most  prominent  of  those  wars,  but  none  have 
furnished  the  literature  of  the  world  outside  of  Scodand  with  so  great  interest 
as  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  unfortunate  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.  Totally 
defeated  at  the  battle  of  Langside,  she  fled  to  England  in  1568,  and  threw  her- 
self upon  the  protection  of  Elizabeth,  by  whom  she  was  kept  a  prisoner  for 
nineteen  years,  and  then  tried  by  a  commission  on  the  charge  of  engaging  in 
a  conspiracy  against  that  unscrupulous  queen's  life.  Her  death  was  heroic, 
and  her  sad  fate  has  drawn  towards  her  the  sympathy  of  the  world. 

The  next  great  event  in  Scottish  history  is  the  Reformation.     The  grand 


MARY    STUART   RECEIVING    HER    DEATH-SENTENCE. 


1159) 


160  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

distinction  between  this  great  change  in  Scotland  and  England  was,  that  in 
Scotland  the  Reformation  originated  among  the  people  themselves  ;  in  Eng- 
land it  was  dictated  by  a  lustful  king.  The  key  to  the  movement  in  Scodand 
is  to  be  found  in  the  popular  rhyme  : 

"  The  priests  o'  Melrose  made  good  kale  on  Fridays  when  they  fasted, 
They  neither  wanted  beef  nor  ale  as  lang's  their  neibor's  lasted." 

Then  followed  some  lines  we  do  not  print.  John  Knox,  the  reformer  of 
Scotland,  was  but  the  type  and  outcome  of  the  national  mind.  It  has  been  said 
that  no  great  national  change  of  religion  has  been  made  by  people  on  account 
of  conviction  of  the  error  of  the  doctrines  taught,  but  only  by  reason  of  the 
dissolute  lives  of  the  teachers.  This  was  the  case  in  Scodand.  Had  the 
priests  and  monks  been  temperate  and  chaste,  Scotland  might  to  this  day  have 
been  Catholic.  John  Knox,  by  whose  influence  popery  was  extirpated  in 
1560,  merely  therefore  embodied  the  will  of  the  mass  of  the  people,  the  way 
having  been  prepared  for  him  by  earlier  reformers,  as  Patrick  Hamilton  and 
Wishart.  One  circumstance  to  be  deplored  in  connection  with  the  Scottish 
reformation  is  the  destruction  of  the  fine  old  abbeys,  cathedrals  and  other  re- 
ligious structures.  It  is  said  this  was  done  in  accordance  with  Knox's  counsel : 
"  Ding  down  the  nests  and  the  corbies  will  flee  awa'."  Glasg'ow  cathedral  alone 
was  rescued  through  the  energy  of  the  "trades."  Knox's  grand  characteristic 
was  fearlessness.  He  braved  an  adverse  court  with  Mary,  the  Catholic  queen, 
at  its  head,  as  well  as  a  stern  nobility.  When  he  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  church- 
yard of  St.  Giles,  Edinburgh,  the  Earl  of  Morton,  looking  on  the  face  of  the 
dead,  said,  "  there  lies  one  who  never  feared  the  face  of  man."  In  Scodand 
he  did  a  grand  work  by  insisdng  on  the  establishment  of  its  then  unrivalled 
system  of  parish  schools. 

The  persecution  of  the  Presbyterians  by  Laud,  under  Charles  II.,  only 
served  to  attach  the  people  more  firmly  to  their  own  faith,  and  embitter  them 
against  episcopacy.  At  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne  of 
Great  Britain  in  1688,  all  endeavors  at  spiritual  compulsion  ceased,  and  the 
people  dwelt  at  peace.  In  1707  the  union  of  England  and  Scodand  was  ac- 
complished, after  which  the  history  of  England  and  Scodand  became  identified. 
On  the  whole,  this  survey,  brief  as  it  is,  justifies  Gladstone's  proud  statement 
that  "  Scotland  was  always  able  to  hold  her  own  with  England  ;  "  and  that  she 
was  thus  able  "to  meet  England  on  terms  of  equality  "  has  been  a  blessing  to 
both  countries. 


I 


AMERICA. 


"  Wesbvard  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way." 

O  wrote  Bishop  Berkeley  over  a  hundred  and  fift}'  years  ago. 
And  gazing  with  prophetic  eye  down  the  vista  of  the  future,  as 
if  the  glorious  destiny  of  the  as  yet  unborn  republic  to  him 
was  as  clear  as  the  noonday,  and  as  if  witnessing  its  emblem 
in  that  flag  which  is  an  image  of  the  everlasting  heaven  with 
its  brio-ht  stars  against  the  blue  background  of  the  sky,  and 
the  red  bands  which  accompany  the  sun  in  the  west,  he  added 
the  inspired  words  : 

"  Time's  noblest  offspring  is  his  last." 

Four  hundred  years  have  not  yet  passed  away  since  Christopher  Colum- 
bus, a  sailor  of  Genoa,  in  Italy,  made  his  first  voyage  to  the  American  conti- 
nent. Two  hundred  and  eighty  years  ago  there  was  not  a  setder  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  United  States  or  its  territories,  and  now  it  contains  a  popu- 
lation of  50,000,000,  and  with  every  day  the  number  is  increasing.  It  also 
contains  one-sixth  of  the  whole  wealth  of  the  world.  "  Every  night,"  says  a 
professor  in  Princeton  College,  "  it  is  stronger  by  a  regiment  of  fighting  men 
and  richer  by  $2,000,000,  than  the  night  before."  Nowhere  in  history  can  a 
parallel  of  such  progress  be  found. 

In   the   United   States  we  have  almost  every  variety  of  climate,  indeed  it 

might  almost  be  called  a  world  of  itself     Fruits  of  all  climates  grown  upon  its 

own  soil  can  be  brought  to  the  door  of  almost  every  inhabitant.     The  United 

States  consumes  every  year  300,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  and  still  it  has 

150,000,000  bushels  to  sell  to  other  nations.     And  beneath  its  surface  all  the 

metals  and  minerals  needed  by  man  are  stored  away  for  his  use.     Coal,  iron, 

gold,  silver,  copper,  lead  and  oil,  are  to  be  found  in  abundance. 

11  (161) 


]fi2  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

The  central  portion  of  North  America,  from  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  the  Pa- 
cific, is  included  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  Thirteen  States,  one  by 
one,  were  founded  along  the  Adantic  coast,  and  twenty-five  others  have  been 
founded  since.  Its  area  equals  twenty-five  times  that  of  Great  Britain,  or  fif- 
teen times  those  of  such  countries  as  France,  Germany  or  Spain.  Indeed  Texas 
alone  or  California  alone  is  larger  than  either. 

In  1882  there  were  more  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States  than  in  all 
Europe,  and  nearly  as  many  as  in  all  the  world  outside  of  the  United  States. 
The  number  is  increasing  at  the  rate  of  about  10,000  miles  each  year.  There 
were  three  times  as  many  miles  of  telegraph  in  the  United  States  in  1882  as  in 
any  other  country.  This  quantity  is  increasing  at  the  rate  of  about  20,000 
miles  each  year. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  public  schools, 
and  over  six  million  pupils  in  daily  attendance.  In  addition  to  schools  of 
medicine,  law,  and  theology,  there  are  nearly  four  hundred  colleges.  There 
are  more  than  11,000  newspapers  and  periodicals.  There  are  about  90,000 
congregations  belonging  to  the  various  Christian  denominations,  all  supported 
by  the  freewill  offerings  of  those  who  belong  to  them,  and  all  are  more  gen- 
erally prosperous  than  if  they  depended  on  government  aid  such  as  is  the 
case  in  other  countries. 

When  we  look  forward  into  the  future,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge  from 
the  present  conditions  of  progress,  we  can  hardly  avoid  being  startled  at  the 
result.  It  was  noticed  long  ago  that  the  population  of  the  United  States 
doubled  every  twenty-five  years.  This  condition  has  steadily  continued.  Now 
this  will  make  the  |X)pulation  of  the  United  States  twenty  years  from  now 
100,000,000.  About  the  year  1930,  it  ought  to  be  200,000,000;  and  it  has 
been  supposed  that  before  the  end  of  the  next  century  the  population  may  be 
800,000,000  ;  the  number  which  good  judges  think  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  will  support. 

But  that  which  is  even  more  startling  than  the  increase  in  numbers  is  the 
increase  in  power.  Every  year  1,000,000  sewing  machines  are  produced, 
and  they  can  do  more  work  than  12,000,000  women  could  do  by  hand. 
Thus  the  working  power  of  the  country  as  to  sewing,  grows  far  faster  than 
even  its  women  increase.  It  is  the  same  with  steam  machinery  in  regard  to 
men.  It  is  true  that  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  other  civilized  countries 
have  the  same  advantages  of  machinery,  but  they  have  not  the  same  resources 
for  its  continuous  growth  and  development.  Great  Britain's  coal  supply  will 
be  used  up  in  a  century.  We  know  already  of  200,000  square  miles  of  coal 
territory  in  the  United  States,  forty  times  as  much  as  in  Great  Britain,  and 
twenty  times  as  much  as  in  all  Europe  together. 

It  is  thus  evident  that  fifty  years  hence  there  will  be  no  power  on  earth  to  be 
compared  to  the  United  States  of  America.     There  are  no  enormous  armies  re- 


AMERICA. 


163 


quired  for  self-protection,  as  in  Russia,  France,  and  Germany,  and  which  ex- 
haust a  nation's  resources.  We  judge  of  what  the  future  will  be  from  the 
conditions  at  present  at  work,  and  from  the  changes  which  have  taken  place 
from  the  past  to  the  present.  It  is  the  story  of  these  changes,  and  the  inci- 
dents connected  therewith  which  we  intend  to  make  the  subject  of  our  special 
attention.  Nevertheless,  as  it  is  our  purpose  to  review  the  history  of  the 
whole  American  continent,  a  preliminary  glance  at  its  more  northern  region 
and  at  the  nations  of  South  and  Central  America  will  be  requisite  for  the  com- 
pleteness of  our  undertaking. 


SCENE    IN   CENTRAL    AMERICA. 


About  the  year  looo  the  Northmen  or  people  of  Norway  and  Denmark, 
after  having  settled  in  Iceland  and  Greenland,  pushed  their  way  to  the  coast 
of  North  America.  Some  of  them  settled  in  Rhode  Island.  These  discov- 
erers sent  back  to  their  native  country  descriptions  of  the  places  discovered. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Columbus  had  any  knowl- 
edge of  these  discoveries  which  had  been  forgotten  long  before  his  time. 
Even  Greenland  itself  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was  known  to  the  Northmen 
only  by  the  name  of  the  lost  Gj'eeii/and. 

Most  persons  supposed,  at  that  time,  that  the  earth  was  a  flat  surface,  and 


1G4  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

few  had  any  correct  notions  of  its  form.  Among  those  who  believed  it  to  be 
round,  was  Christopher  Columbus,  a  native  of  Genoa,  in  Italy,  and  who  was 
born  in  the  year  1447,  whose  parents  were  poor,  and  who  were  able  to  give 
him  but  little  education. 

Columbus  was  sent  to  sea  at  an  early  age,  yet  he,  improving  all  his  op- 
portunities for  observation  and  study,  became  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
mariners  of  the  age.  Believing  the  earth  to  be  round,  and  that  the  shortest 
route  from  Europe  to  the  eastern  coasts  of  Asia  would  be  found  by  sailing 
in  a  westerly  direction,  he  anxiously  sought  the  means  for  making  the  ex- 
periment. 

He  visited  Portugal — laid  his  plans  before  the  king  of  that  country — and 
requested  that  he  might  be  supplied  with  a  ship  and  seamen  to  navigate  it ; 
but  he  was  laughed  at.  He  applied  to  his  native  country,  Genoa,  where  he 
met  with  a  like  ill  success.  He  then  went  to  Spain,  where  he  arrived  in  great 
poverty,  having  previously  exhausted  the  little  fortune  which  his  industry  had 
acquired. 

The  first  notice  we  have  of  his  being  in  Spain,  is  as  a  stranger,  on  foot, 
stopping  at  the  gate  of  a  convent  near  the  seaport  of  Palos,  and  asking  for 
some  bread  and  water  for  himself,  and  his  little  son  Diego,  who  accompanied 
him.  While  they  were  partaking  of  this  humble  refreshment,  the  priest  of 
the  convent,  Juan  Perez,  happened  to  pass  by,  and  perceiving  that  Columbus 
was  a  foreigner,  he  entered  into  conversation  with  him. 

He  soon  learned  from  him  the  object  of  his  travels  ;  detained  him  several 
days  as  a  guest ;  became  a  believer  in  his  scheme  of  a  western  route  to  Asia; 
and,  after  promising  to  maintain  and  educate  his  son  Diego  at  the  convent,  he 
and  some  friends  furnished  Columbus  with  the  means  of  continuing  his  jour- 
ney to  Cordova,  to  visit  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  king  and  queen  of  Spain. 

When  Columbus  arrived  at  Cordova,  he  found  the  king  and  queen  so 
busily  engaged  in  preparations  for  war  against  the  Moorish  kingdom  of 
Grenada,  that  they  could  find  no  time  to  listen  to  him,  and  he  was  therefore 
obliged  to  wait  until  a  better  opportunity  offered,  and  in  the  meantime  he 
supported  himself  by  making  and  selling  maps  and  charts. 

P^inally,  however,  although  most  persons  at  Cordova  regarded  him  as  a 
kind  of  madman,  or  wild  adventurer,  yet  some  distinguished  men  became  con- 
vinced of  the  justness  of  his  theory,  and,  through  their  influence,  he  was  en- 
abled to  see  the  king,  and  explain  to  him  his  plans. 

Ferdinand  was  highly  pleased  with  the  idea  of  so  important  a  discovery  as 
Columbus  hoped  to  make;  but,  being  doubtful  about  the  success  of  such  a 
voyage  as  was  proposed,  he  ordered  the  most  learned  men  of  the  kingdom 
to  assemble  at  Salamanca,  to  hear  Columbus  explain  his  theory,  and  then 
give  their  opinion  of  its  merits. 

Several  years,  however,  passed  away,  during  which  time  he  was  kept  in 


AMERICA. 


165 


suspense  by  the  repeated  promises  of  the  king  and  queen,  that,  when  the  war 
should  be  ended,  and  they  could  find  a  little  more  leisure,  they  would  give 
his  project  a  more  attentive  consideration. 


PORTRAIT   OF    PIZARRO. 
Frum  the  .titthcnliL  p  irtr.iit  pp-'-^crved  in  the  Miiveiim  .it  Lima. 


At  length  Columbus,  losincj  all  patience  after  so  many  delays,  gave  up  all 
hope  of  assistance  from  the  throne,  and  was  on  the  pomt  ot  leavmg  bpam 
for  the  purpose  of  laying  his  plans  before  the  king  of  France,  when  Queen 


Igg  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Isabella  resolved  to  engage  in  the  enterprise,  and  pledged  her  jewels  to  raise 
the  necessary  funds.  Columbus,  who  was  already  on  his  way  to  France,  was 
called  back  to  court,  where  all  the  necessary  arrangements  were  soon  made. 

It  was  agreed  that  he  should  be  high  admiral  of  all  the  seas,  and  governor 
of  all  the  lands  that  he  should  discover ;  and  that  he  should  have  a  tenth  part 
of  all  the  profits  arising  from  the  merchandise  and  productions  of  the  coun- 
tries under  his  government.  Three  small  vessels  were  fitted  out  in  the  little 
seaport  of  Palos,  the  largest  of  which,  called  the  Santa  Maria,  Columbus 
himself  commanded.  The  names  of  the  other  vessels  were  the  Pinta  and  the 
Nina. 

On  board  this  fleet  were  ninety  seamen,  and  a  number  of  private  adven- 
turers— in  all,  1 20  persons.  On  the  3d  of  August,  1492,  Columbus  sailed 
from  Palos,  a  small  town  on  the  seaboard  of  Andalusia,  northwest  of  Cadiz. 
He  first  directed  his  course  to  the  Canary  Islands,  where  he  remained  several 
weeks,  refitting  one  of  his  vessels,  and  taking  in  wood  and  water  and  provis- 
ions for  the  voyage. 

On  the  6th  of  September  he  departed  from  the  Canaries,  and  sailed  di- 
rectly westward  into  the  unknown  ocean,  where  no  ship  had  ever  before  ven- 
tured. When  the  seamen  lost  sight  of  land  their  hearts  failed  them,  for  they 
seemed  to  have  taken  leave  of  the  world ;  and  after  they  had  sailed  onward 
twenty  days  in  the  same  direction,  they  began  to  be  filled  with  dismay  at  the 
length  of  the  voyage,  and  were  anxious  to  return. 

So  alarmed  did  they  finally  become  that  they  threatened  to  throw  Columbus 
overboard,  and  return  without  him.  Still  Columbus  adhered  to  his  purpose, 
and  used  every  expedient  to  dispel  the  fears  of  the  seamen,  and  encourage 
them  to  proceed.  The  favoring  breeze,  blowing  steadily  from  the  east,  wafted 
the  vessels  rapidly  forward  over  a  tranquil  sea,  and  Columbus  found  it  neces- 
sary to  keep  his  crews  ignorant  of  the  great  distance  they  had  gone. 

About  the  first  of  October  several  patches  of  herbs  and  weeds  drifting 
from  the  west  were  seen,  and  many  birds  came  singing  around  the  vessels  in 
the  morning,  and  flew  away  at  night.  These  signs  of  land  were  very  cheering 
to  the  hearts  of  the  poor  mariners,  and  every  one  was  eager  to  be  the  first  to 
behold  and  announce  the  wished-for  shore.  But  still  day  after  day  passed,  and 
although  signs  of  land  became  more  and  more  frequent,  yet  the  seamen  be- 
came so  impatient  and  clamorous,  that  it  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that 
Columbus  could  prevent  an  open  mutiny. 

Beautifully  does  the  German  poet  Schiller  allude  to  his  situation  at  this  time: 

"  Steer  on,  bold  sailor — wit  may  mock  thy  soul  that  sees  the  land, 
And  hopeless  at  the  helm  may  droop  the  weak  and  weary  hand ; 
Yet  ever— ever  to  the  West,  for  there  the  coast  must  lie. 
And  dim  it  dawns  and  glimmering  dawns  before  thy  reason's  eye ; 
Yea,  trust  the  guiding  God — and  go  along  the  floating  grave. 


AMERICA.  167 

Though  hid  till  now — yet  now  behold  the  New  World  o'er  the  wave. 
With  Genius,  Nature  ever  stands  in  solemn  union  still ; 
And  ever  what  the  one  foretells,  the  other  shall  fulfil." 

On  the  nth  of  October,  however,  the  signs  of  land  had  become  so  certain, 
that  all  murmuring  ceased.  On  that  day  a  green  fish,  such  as  keeps  near  the 
land,  swam  by  the  ships ;  and  a  branch  of  thorn,  with  berries  on  it,  floated 
by ;  they  picked  up,  also,  a  reed,  a  small  board,  and  a  staff  artificially  carved. 
All  were  now  on  the  lookout  for  land,  and  during  the  following  nio-ht  not  an 
eye  was  closed  in  sleep. 

About  ten   o'clock   Columbus  himself  saw  a  light  which  seemed  to  be  on 
shore;  and  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  the  sailors  saw  land,  and  then  arose 

"  The  cry 
That  told  the  Indian  isles  were  nigh 

To  the  world-seeking  Genoese, 
When  the  land-wind  from  woods  of  palm, 

And  orange-groves  and  fields  of  balm 
Blew  o'er  the  Haytien  seas." — Halleck. 

During  the  ceremony  of  taking  possession,  the  natives  looked  on  with 
wonder  and  awe.  When  at  the  dawn  of  day  they  beheld  the  ships  at  a  dis- 
tance, moving  about  without  any  apparent  effort,  they  thought  they  were 
mighty  sea-monsters,  which  had  issued  from  the  deep  during  the  night.  The 
shiftincT  and  furlinof  of  the  sails,  which  resembled  huoe  winsfs,  filled  them  with 
astonishment.  But  when  they  saw  the  boats  approach  the  shore,  and  a  num- 
ber of  strange  beincrs,  clad  in  elitterino-  steel,  or  raiment  of  different  colors, 
landing  on  the  beach,  they  fled  in  affright  to  the  woods 

When,  however,  they  saw  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  pursue  or  molest 
them,  they  gradually  recovered  from  their  terror  and  approached  the  Span- 
iards, frequently  prostrating  themselves  with  their  faces  to  the  earth,  and 
making  signs  of  adoration.  They  finally  ventured  to  touch  the  Spaniards,  and 
to  examine  their  hands,  faces  and  clothing.  They  expressed  great  admiration 
at  the  white  complexion  of  the  strangers,  whom  they  believed  to  be  children 
of  the  sun. 

Nor  were  the  Spaniards  much  less  surprised  at  the  sight  of  these  strange, 
but  simple  and  artless  people,  whose  color,  of  a  dark  copper  or  dusky  brown, 
was  so  different  from  that  of  Europeans.  They  wore  no  clothing;  their  hair 
was  coarse,  straight  and  black  ;  they  had  no  beards  ;  and  their  bodies,  hands 
and  faces,  were  painted  with  a  variety  of  colors.  Columbus,  supposing  that 
the  land  which  he  had  discovered  was  a  part  of  eastern  or  southern  Asia, 
which  was  known  by  the  name  of  India,  called  the  inhabitants  Indians. 

The  world  which  Columbus  discovered,  and  which  should  have  received 
the  name  of  Columbia,  has  been  called  America,  from  the  name  of  a  distin- 


168 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


guished  Italian  navigator,  Americus  Vespucius,  who  visited  the  country  sev- 
eral times  before  the  death  of  Columbus,  and  wrote  a  glowing  description  of 
it.  It  is  supposed  that  the  first  voyage  of  Americus  was  made  in  the  year 
1497,  when  he  discovered  the  continent  itself  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,  before  it 
was  seen  by  Columbus,  and  that  this  is  the  reason  why  it  has  been  called 
America,  after  his  name. 

Spanish  adventurers  never  rested  from  their  eager  search  after  the  treas- 


SOUTH    AMERICAN    INDIANS. 


ures  of  the  new  continent.  An  aged  warrior  called  Ponce  de  Leon,  fitted  out 
an  expedition  at  his  own  cost.  He  had  heard  of  the  marvellous  fountain 
whose  waters  would  restore  to  him  the  years  of  his  wasted  youth.  He 
searched  in  vain.  The  fountain  would  not  reveal  itself  to  the  foolish  old  man, 
and  he  had  to  bear  without  relief  the  burden  of  his  profitless  years.  But  he 
found  a  country  hitherto  unseen  by  Europeans,  which  was  clothed  with  mag 


AMERICA.  169 

nificent  forests,  and  seemed  to  bloom  with  perpetual  flowers.  He  called  it 
Florida.  He  attempted  to  found  a  colony  in  the  paradise  he  had  discovered. 
But  the  natives  attacked  him,  slew  many  of  his  men,  and  drove  the  rest  to 
their  ships,  carr>'ing  with  them  their  chief,  wounded  to  death  by  the  arrow  of 
an  Indian. 

Ten  or  twelve  years  after  Columbus  had  discovered  the  mainland  there 
was  a  Spanish  settlement  at  the  town  of  Darien,  on  the  isthmus.  Prominent 
among  the  adventurers  who  prosecuted,  from  this  centre  of  operations,  the 
Spaniard's  eager  and  ruthless  search  for  gold  was  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa — 
a  man  cruel  and  unscrupulous  as  the  others,  but  giving  evidence  of  wider 
views  and  larger  powers  of  mind  than  almost  any  of  his  fellows.  Vasco 
Nunez  visited  one  day  a  friendly  chief  from  whom  he  received  in  gift  a  large 
amount  of  gold.  The  Spaniards  had  certain  rules  which  guided  them  in  the 
distribution  of  the  spoils,  but  in  the  application  of  these  rules  disputes  con- 
tinually fell  out.  It  so  happened  on  this  occasion  that  a  noisy  altercation 
arose.  A  young  Indian  prince,  regarding  with  unconcealed  contempt  the 
clamor  of  the  greedy  strangers,  told  them  that,  since  they  prized  gold  so 
highly,  he  would  show  them  a  country  where  they  might  have  it  in  abundance. 
Southward,  beyond  the  mountains,  was  a  great  sea;  on  the  coasts  of  that  sea 
there  was  a  land  of  vast  wealth,  where  the  people  ate  and  drank  from  vessels 
of  gold.  This  was  the  first  intimation  which  Europeans  received  of  the  Pa- 
cific ocean,  and  the  land  of  Peru  on  the  western  shore  of  the  continent. 
Vasco  Nunez  resolved  to  be  the  discoverer  of  that  unknown  sea.  Among 
his  followers  w^as  Francisco  Pizarro,  who  became,  a  few  years  later,  the  dis- 
coverer and  destroyer  of  Peru. 

Vasco  Nunez  grathered  about  200  well-armed  men  and  a  number  of 
dogs,  who  were  potent  allies  in  his  Indian  wars.  He  climbed  with  much  toil 
the  mountain-ridge  which  traverses  the  isthmus.  After  twenty-five  days  of  diffi- 
cult journeying  his  Indians  told  him  that  he  was  almost  in  view  of  the  ocean. 
He  chose  that  he  should  look  for  the  first  time  on  that  great  sight  alone.  He 
made  his  men  remain  behind,  while  he,  unattended,  looked  down  upon  the 
Sea  of  the  South,  and  drank  the  delight  of  this  memorable  success.  Upon 
his  knees  he  gave  thanks  to  God,  and  joined  with  his  followers  in  devoutly 
singing  the  Te  Dcuvi.  He  made  his  way  down  to  the  coast.  Wading  into 
the  tranquil  waters,  he  called  his  men  to  witness  that  he  took  possession  for 
the  kings  of  Castile  of  the  sea  and  all  that  it  contained — a  large  claim,  as- 
suredly, for  the  Pacific  covers  more  than  one-half  the  surface  of  the  globe. 


POPOCATEPETL. 


MEXICO. 


N    1 518   the  Spanish  governor  of  Cuba  sent  an  officer,  Ferdinand 
Cortez,  with  ten  ships  and    600   men  to    conquer   the    empire 
.       I?gf      of  Mexico.     Having-  founded    the    colony  of  Vera    Cruz  as  a 
S^^*W  basis  of  operations,  Cortez  then  broke  all  his  ships  to  pieces. 

^^^      This  he  did  to  insure  success,  for  he  thus  shut  himself  and  his  soi- 
^     diers  up  in  the  invaded  land. 

I  Montezuma  was  the  emperor  of  the  Mexicans.     Gradually  advanc- 

ing through  his  territories,  the  Spanish  force  at  last  reached  the  capital. 
Everywhere  they  were  regarded  as  deities — children  of  the  sun.  Scrolls  of 
cotton  cloth  were  carried  far  and  wide  through  the  terror-stricken  land,  on 

(170J 


MEXICO.  171 

which  were  pictured  pale-faced  bearded  warriors,  trampling-  horses,  ships  with 
spreading  wings,  and  cannons  breathing  out  Hghtning,  and  dashinf  to  the 
earth  tall  trees  far  away.  The  emperor  admitted  Cortez  to  his  capital,  but  at 
the  same  time  sent  a  secret  expedidon  to  attack  Vera  Cruz.  The  hopes  of 
the  Mexicans  revived  when  they  saw  the  head  of  a  Spaniard  carried  through 
the  land ;  for  then  they  knew  that  their  foes  were  mortal.  At  this  crisis 
Cortez  resolved  on  a  bold  stroke.  Seizing  Montezuma,  he  carried  him  to  the 
Spanish  quarters,  and  forced  him  to  acknowledge  himself  a  vassal  of  Spain. 

Having  held  Mexico  for  six  months,  Cortez  left  it  to  defeat  Narvaez, 
whom  the  Cuban  government,  jealous  of  his  success,  had  sent  against  him 
with  nearly  a  thousand  men. 

During  his  absence  all  was  uproar  in  the  capital.  Two  thousand  Mexican 
nobles  had  been  massacred  for  the  sake  of  their  golden  ornaments;  and  the 
Spanish  quarters  were  surrounded  by  a  furious  crowd.  The  return  of  Cortez, 
with  a  force  increased  by  the  troops  of  the  defeated  Narvaez,  was  oil  cast  on 
flame.  Montezuma,  striving  to  mediate,  was  killed  by  a  stone  tlung  by  one 
of  his  angry  subjects.  The  Spaniards  were,  for  a  time,  driven  from  the  city ; 
but  in  the  valley  of  Otumba  (1520),  the  Mexicans  were  routed,  and  their 
golden  standard  was  taken.  Soon  afterwards  the  new  emperor  was  made 
prisoner,  stretched  on  burning  coals,  and  gibbeted.  The  siege  of  Mexico, 
lasting  seventy-five  days,  was  the  final  blow. 

The  fall  of  Peru  followed  soon  after  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and  from 
Peru  the  tide  of  Spanish  conquest  flowed  southward  to  Chili.  The  river 
Plata  was  explored,  Buenos  Ayres  was  founded,  and  communication  was 
opened  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Forty  years  after  the  landing  of 
Columbus  the  margins  of  the  continent  bordering  on  the  sea  had  been  sub- 
dued and  possessed,  and  some  progress  had  been  made  in  gaining  knowledge 
of  the  interior.  There  had  been  added  to  the  dominions  of  Spain  vast  re- 
gions, whose  coast-line  on  the  west  stretched  from  Mexico  southward  for  the 
distance  of  6,000  miles — regions  equal  in  length  to  the  whole  of  Africa,  and 
largely  exceeding  in  breadth  the  whole  of  the  Russian  Empire. 

For  300  years  Spain  governed  the  rich  possessions  which  she  had  so  easily 
won.  At  the  close  of  that  period  the  population  was  about  sixteen  millions — 
a  number  very  much  smaller  than  the  conquerors  found  on  island  and  con- 
tinent. The  increase  of  three  centuries  had  not  repaired  the  waste  of  thirty 
years.  Of  the  1 6,000,000,  two  were  Spaniards  ;  the  remainder  were  Indians, 
negroes,  or  persons  of  mixed  descent. 

At  length  the  time  came  in  which  Mexico,  in  concert  with  the  other 
colonies  of  Spanish  America,  threw  oft'  the  intolerable  yoke  of  the  mother 
country. 

When  the  Mexicans  gained  their  independence  they  raised  to  the  throne 
a  popular  young  officer,   whom  they  styled  the  Emperor  Augustine  First 


172 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


They  were  then  a  people  utterly  priest-ridden  and  fanatical  ;  and  the  clergy 
whom  they  superstitiously  revered  were  a  corrupt  and  debased  class.  The 
reformers  had  avowed  the  opinion  that  the  church  was  the  origin  of  most  of 
the  evils  which  afflicted  the  country.  The  emperor,  while  he  offered  equal 
civil  rights  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  Mexico,  sought  to  gain  the  clergy  to  his 

cause  by  guaranteeing  the 
existence  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  But  a  monarchy 
proved  to  be  impossible, 
and  in  less  than  a  year  a 
republican  uprising,  headed 
by  Santa  Anna,  forced  the 
emperor  to  resign.  A 
federal  republic  was  then 
organized,  with  a  constitu- 
tion based  on  that  of  the 
great  republic  whose  terri- 
tories adjoined  those  of 
Mexico. 

For  the  next  thirty  years 
Santa  Anna  is  the  promi- 
nent figure  in  Mexican 
politics.  He  was  a  tall, 
thin  man,  with  sun-browned 
face,  black  curling  hair, 
and  dark,  vehement  eye. 
He  possessed  no  states- 
manship, and  his  general- 
ship never  justified  the 
confidence  with  which  it 
was  regarded  by  his  coun-  ■ 
trymen.  But  he  was  full 
of  reckless  bravery  and 
dash,  and  if  his  leading 
was  faulty,  his  personal 
bearing  in  all  his  numer- 
ous batdes  was  irreproach- 
able. His  popularity  ebbed 
and  flowed  with  the  exigencies  of  the  time.  He  repelled  an  invasion  by 
Spain  and  an  invasion  by  France,  and  these  triumphs  raised  him  to  the 
highest  pinnacle  of  public  favor.  Then  his  power  decayed,  and  he  was  forced 
to  flee  from  the  country.     When  new  dangers  threatened  the  unstable  nation 


HIDALGO    Y.    COSTELLO. 
Father  of  Mexican  Independence. 


MEXICO.  173 

he  was  recalled  from  his  banishment  and  placed  in  supreme  command.  At 
one  period  one  of  his  legs,  which  had  been  shattered  in  battle,  was  interred 
with  solemn  funeral  service  and  glowing  patriot  oratory.  A  little  later  the  ill- 
fated  limb  was  disinterred,  and  kicked  about  the  streets  of  Mexico  with 
every  contumelious  accompaniment.  His  public  life  was  closed  by  a  hasty 
flight  to  Havana — his  second  movement  of  that  description. 

In  1846  war  was  declared  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States.  At 
Palo  Alto,  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  and  at  Buena  Vista  the  Mexicans  were  totally 
defeated  by  General  Taylor.  General  Scott,  of  the  United  States  army,  be- 
sieged Vera  Cruz  and  captured  it.  He  then  proceeded  against  the  capital. 
At  length  the  Mexican  army,  under  Santa  Anna,  were  routed  by  Generals 
Shields  and  Pierce,  and  the  city  government  sent  to  ask  a  truce.  On  the  7th 
of  September  the  army  was  again  in  motion  ;  the  great  fortress  of  Chapultepec, 
commanding  the  city,  was  taken  by  storm  ;  Santa  Anna  and  his  officers  fled ; 
and  on  the  4th  the  flag  of  the  United  States  floated  over  the  ancient  home  of 
the  Montezumas.  With  the  surrender  of  her  capital  the  power  of  Mexico 
Avas  broken.  By  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  Upper  California,  with 
Nevada,  Utah,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico,  was  ceded  to  the  United  States. 
The  latter  agreed  to  pay  $15,000,000,  and  assume  debts  due  American  citizens 
from  the  Mexican  government.     The  other  captured  places  were  restored. 

On  account  of  abuses  in  the  government,  there  came  a  demand  for  reform, 
and  the  Mexicans  took  a  large  step  towards  the  vindication  of  their  liberties. 
The  leader  in  this  revolution  was  Benito  Juarez,  a  Toltec  Indian,  one  of  that 
despised  race  which  the  Aztecs  subdued  centuries  before  the  Spanish  invasion. 
This  man  had  imbibed  the  liberal  and  progressive  ideas  which  now  prevailed  in 
all  civilized  countries  ;  and  his  personal  ability  and  skill  in  the  management  of 
affairs  gained  for  him  the  opportunity  of  conferring  upon  Mexico  the  fullest 
measure  of  political  blessing  which  she  had  ever  received.  The  Liberals  were 
now  a  majority  in  Congress,  and  the  gigantic  work  of  reformation  began.  But 
Juarez  and  his  government  were  afterwards  driven  for  a  time  from  the  capital. 
The  aims  of  his  enemies  concurred  with  an  ambition  which  at  that  time  ani- 
mated the  resdess  mind  of  Emperor  Napoleon  III.  The  Mexican  clergy, 
supported  by  the  court  of  Rome,  gave  encouragement  to  his  idle  dream. 
An  expedition  was  prepared,  in  which  England  and  Spain  took  reluctant 
and  hesitating  part,  and  from  which  they  quickly  withdrew. 

A  French  army  entered  the  capital  of  Mexico.  Juarez  and  his  govern- 
ment withdrew  to  maintain  a  patriot  war,  in  which  the  mass  of  the  people 
zealously  upheld  them.  An  Austrian  prince  sat  upon  the  throne  of  Mexico 
without  support,  excepting  that  which  the  clerical  party  of  Mexico  and  the 
bayonets  of  France  supplied.  A  few  years  earlier  or  later  these  things  dared 
not  have  been  done  ;  but  when  the  French  troops  entered  Mexican  territory  the 
United  States  waged,  not  yet  with  clear  prospect  of  success,  a  struggle  on 


174 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


the  results  of  which  depended  their  own  existence  as  a  nation.  They  had 
no  thouo-ht  to  give  to  the  concerns  of  other  American  states,  and  they 
wisely  suffered  the  empire  of  Mexico  to  run  its  sad  and  foolish  course.  But 
now  the  southern  revolt  was  quelled,  and  the  government  at  Washington, 
havino-  at  its  call  a  million  of  veteran  soldiers,  intimated  to  Napoleon  that  the 
farther  stay  of  his  troops  on  the  American  continent  had  become  impos- 
sible. The  emperor  waited  no  second  summons.  When  the  French  were 
gone  the  patriot  armies  swept  over  the  country,  and  this  deplorable  attempt 
to  set  up  imperialism  came  to  an  ignominious  close.  The  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian fell  into  the  hands  of 
his  enemies,  and  was  put 
to  death  according  to  the 
terms  of  a  decree  which  his 
own  government  had  framed. 
Juarez  was  again  elected 
president,  and  returned  with 
his  Congress  to  the  city  of 
Mexico.  During  his  whole 
term  of  office  he  had  to  main- 
tain the  Liberal  cause  in  arms 
against  the  tenacious  priest- 
hood and  its  followers.  When 
he  died,  a  Liberal  president, 
named  Porfirio  Diaz,  was 
chosen  to  succeed  him. 

Benito  Juarez  was  an  un- 
mixed Toltec.  Porfirio  Diaz, 
the  strongest  Mexican  of  his 
times,  and  in  many  respects  the 
General  Grant  of  his  country, 
is  of  mixed  blood.  Every- 
where the  Aztec  face,  unmistakable  in  its  pathetic  features,  goes  with  the 
best  and  worst  types  of  Mexican  character. 

It  may  be  at  first  a  matter  of  surprise  that  the  average  Mexican  seems  to 
know  so  litde  of  his  own  country,  and  to  have  so  little  local  pride  in  its  history 
and  interesting  antiquities.  It  is  not  strange  to  him  ;  he  has  always  been 
there,  and  has  never  thought  much  about  it.  It  is  not  yet  a  show  country. 
When  this  feature  changes,  it  will,  as  usual,  change  too  much. 

Another  strange  thing  is,  that  with  an  advancement  in  art  that  surprises 
every  visitor,  the  country  has  no  literature.  The  galleries  of  the  capital  are 
filled  with  specimens  of  the  old  and  new  schools,  many  of  which  would  be 
masterpieces  in  any  country.     Yet  there  is  not  a  publishing  house  in  the  re- 


BENITO  JUAREZ,  EX-PRESIDENT  OF  MEXICO. 


MEXICO. 


17o 


public,  and  the  three  or  four  bookstores  of  the  city  are  filled  with  French 
works,  either  scientific  or  novels. 

Chihuahua,  to  the  traveller  from  the  United  States,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
first  Mexican  city.  It  contains  some  18,000  inhabitants,  and  is  a  permanent 
departure  from  the  adobe  style  of  architecture,  which  has  always  been  re- 
garded by  us  as  the  inevitable  and  unavoidable  building  material  of  the 
Mexican. 

A  hundred  miles  south  of  Chihuahua  is  Santa  Rosalia,  famous  among 
Mexicans  for  its  sanitary  hot-springs.  It  is  reported  by  the  few  foreigners 
who  have  yet  visited  it  to  be,  as  to  the  quality  of  its  waters,  probably  the 
finesf  health  resort  in  America. 

The  City  of  Mexico,  with  a  population  variously  estimated  at  from  225,000 
to  300,000,  is  situated  upon  ground  that  was  once  the  bed  of  a  lake.  The 
lake  was  what  is  now  the  Valley  of  Mexico. 


CYPRESS  TREES  AT  CH APULTEPEC. 


The  streets  are  some  sixty  feet  wide,  with  wide  sidewalks,  and  the  city  lies 
closely  built  in  regular  squares.  The  buildings  are  mosdy  of  two,  though 
sometimes  of  three  or  four  stories.  The  square  in  front  of  the  cathedral, 
called  the  Zocalo,  is  the  olace  of  universal  resort,  though  there  are  two  or 
three  others,  handsome  and  clean,  but  not  so  well  kept  nor  so  expensively 
ornamented. 

It  is  the  city  of  churches,  as  Mexico  is  unquestionably  the  land  of  churches. 
Their  towers,  always  handsome,  assist  very  much  in  making  up  the  general 
view. 

Fenced  by  impassible  barriers  for  some  three  hundred  years,  this  old,  rich, 
quaint  and  isolated  empire  has  suddenly  become  the  coming  country  of  the 
capitalist  and  the  tourist ;  a  land  in  which,  by  the  invitation  of  its  people,  we 
have  already  begun  an  endless  series  of  beneficent  and  bloodless  conquests. 


PERU. 


JHE  conqueror  of  Peru  was  Francisco  Pizarro,  a  man   who  could 
neither  read  nor  write,  and  whose  early  days  were  spent  in  herd- 
M"     ing  swine.     Running  away  from  home  in  early  life,  he  became  a 
'^     soldier,  and  saw  much  service  in  the  New  World.     Between  1524 
and  1528,  while  exploring  the  coast  of  Peru,  he  formed  the  design  of 
conquering  that  golden   land,  being  tempted  by  the  abundance  of  the 
precious    metals,  which  glittered  everywhere,  forming    not   merely  the 
ornaments  of  the  people,  but  the  commonest  utensils  of  everyday  life. 

He  sailed  from  Panama  with  186  men,  in  February,  1531.  A  civil  war 
then  raging  in  Peru  between  two  brothers,  who  were  rivals  for  the  throne, 
made  his  task  an  easier  one  than  it  might  otherwise  have  been.  The  strife 
seems  to  have  been  to  some  extent  decided  when  the  Spaniards  landed,  for 
Atahualpa  was  then  Inca  of  Peru — so  they  called  their  kings. 

Pizarro  found  the  Inca  holding  a  splendid  court  near  the  city  of  Caxamarca  ; 
and  the  eyes  of  the  Spanish  pirates  gleamed  when  they  saw  the  glitter  of  gold 
and  jewels  in  the  royal  camp.  The  visit  of  the  Spanish  leader  was  returned 
by  the  Inca,  who  came  in  a  golden  chair,  encompassed  by  10,000  guards.  A 
friar,  crucifix  in  hand,  strove  to  convert 
this  worshipper  of  the  sun,  telling  him  at 
the  same  time  that  the  pope  had  given 
Peru  to  the  King  of  Spain.  The  argu- 
ment was  all  lost  on  the  Inca,  who  could 
not  see  how  the  pope  was  able  to  give 
away  what  was  not  his,  and  who,  besides, 
scorned  the  idea  of  giving  up  the  wor- 
ship of  so  magnificent  a  god  as  the  sun. 
The  furious  priest  turned  with  a  cry  forS 
vengeance  to  the  Spaniards.  They  were' 
ready,  for  it  was  all  a  tragedy  well  re- 
hearsed beforehand.  The  match  was  laid 
to  the  levelled  cannon,  and  a  storm  of 
shot  from  great  guns  and  small  burst 
upon  the  poor  huddled  crowd  of  Peru- 
vians, amid  whose  slaughter  and  dismay 
Pizarro  carried  off  the  Inca.  As  the  price  01  freedom,  Atahualpa  offered  to 
fill  his  cell  with  gold.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  treasure  divided  among 
the  Spaniards  ;  but  the  unhappy  Inca  was  strangled  after  all.  The  capture  of 
Cuzco  completed  the  wonderfully  easy  conquest  of  Peru. 

(176) 


THE   INCA    HUASCAR. 


PERU. 


177 


Pizarro  founded  Lima  in  1535;  and,  six  years  later,  was  slain  by  con- 
spirators, who  burst  into  his  palace  during  the  mid-day  siesta. 

Of  all  the  cities  of  South  America,  Lima  has  an  aspect  most  peculiar  and 
original,  the  buildings  being  little  more  than  huge  cages  of  canes  plastered 
over  with  mud.  The  city  is  said  to  be  "  the  paradise  of  women,  the  purga- 
tory of  husbands,  and  the  hell  of  donkeys." 

In  the  war  for  independence  by  the  South  American  provinces  Peru  was 
the  last  stronghold  of  Spanish  authority.  Spain  put  forth  her  utmost  effort  to 
maintain  her  hold  upon  the  mineral  treasures  which  were  almost  essential  to 
her  existence.  The  desire  for  independence  was  less  enthusiastic  here  than  in 
the  other  provinces  ;  the  insurrectionary  movement  was  more  fitful  and  more 
easily  suppressed.  When  independence  had  triumphed  everywhere  besides, 
the  Peruvian  republic  was  struggling  hopelessly  for  existence.  The  Span- 
iards had  possessed  themselves  of  the  capital ;  a  reactionary  impulse  had 
spread  itself  among  the  soldiers,  and  numerous  desertions  had  weakened  and 
discouraged  the  patriot  ranks.  The  cause  of  liberty  seemed  almost  lost  in 
Peru  ;  the  old  despotism  which  had  been  cast  out  of  the  other  provinces 
seemed  to  regain  its  power  over  the  land  of  the  Incas,  and  threatened  to 
establish  itself  there  as  a  standing  menace  to  the  liberty  and  peace  of  the 
continent. 

At  length  on  the  plain  of  Ayacucho,  12,000  Royalists  encountered  the  Re- 
publican army  under  Bolivar,  numbering  scarcely  more  than  one-half  the 
opposing  forces.  The  outnumbered  independents  fought  bravely,  but  the  for- 
tune of  war  seemed  to  declare  against  them,  and  they  were  being  driven  from 
the  field  with  a  defeat  which  must  soon  have  become  a  rout.  At  that  perilous 
moment  an  English  general  commanding  the  Republican  cavalry  struck  with 
his  force  on  the  flank  of  the  victorious  but  disordered  Spaniards.  The  charge 
could  not  be  resisted.  The  Spaniards  fled  from  the  field,  leaving  their  artillery 
and  many  prisoners,  among  whom  was  the  viceroy.  A  final  and  decisive  vic- 
tory had  been  gained.  The  war  ceased  ;  Peru  and  Chili  were  given  over  b)- 
treaty  to  the  friends  of  liberty,  and  the  authority  which  Spain  had  so  vilely 
abused  had  no  loncrer  a  foothold  on  the  soil  of  the  great  South  American 
continent. 

Peru  is  believed  to  extract  silver  from  her  mines  to  the  annual  value  of  a 
million  sterling — an  amount  somewhat  smaller  than  these  mines  yielded  down 
to  the  war  of  independence.  Peru  exports  chiefly  articles  which  can  be 
obtained  without  labor  or  thought.  The  guano,  heaped  in  millions  of  tons  on 
the  islands  which  stud  her  coasts,  was  sold  to  European  speculators  and 
carried  away  by  European  ships.  But  these  vast  stores  seem  to  approach  ex- 
haustion. Fortunately  for  this  spendthrift  government,  discovery  was  made 
some  years  ago  of  large  deposits  of  nitrate  of  soda,  from  the  sale  of  which  an 

important  revenue  is  gained. 
12 


lyg  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

For  Peru,  lying  chiefly  between  lofty  mountain  ranges  remote  from  the  sea, 
railway  communication  is  of  prime  importance.  In  the  time  of  one  of  her  best 
presidents  there  was  devised  a  scheme  of  singular  boldness ;  and  by  the  help 
of  borrowed  money,  on  which  no  interest  is  paid,  it  has  been  partially  executed. 
A  railway  line,  setting  out  from  Lima,  on  the  Pacific,  crosses  the  barren  plain 
which  adjoins  the  coast,  climbs  the  western  range  of  the  Andes  to  a  height  of 
nearly  sixteen  thousand  feet,  and  traverses  the  table-land  which  lies  between 
the  great  lines  of  mountain.  When  completed,  it  will  reach  some  of  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  Amazon  at  points  where  these  become  navigable,  thus  connecting 
the  Pacific  with  the  Adantic  where  the  condnent  is  the  broadest.  There  are, 
in  all,  about  fourteen  hundred  miles  of  railway  open  for  traffic  in  Peru,  three- 
fourths  of  which  are  government  works. 


VENEZUELA. 


,!rs^''^=>.ii  j-{£  provinces  which  bordered  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  had  a  larger 
intercourse  with  Europe  than  their  sister  states,  and  were  the  first 
to  become  imbued  with  the  liberal  ideas  which  were  now  gaining 
prevalence  among  the  European  people.  Seven  of  these  northern 
provinces  formed  themselves  into  a  union,  which  they  styled  the 
Confederation  of  Venezuela.  They  did  not  yet  assert  independence 
of  Spain  ;  but  they  abolished  the  tax  which  had  been  levied  from 
the  Indians;  they  declared  commerce  to  be  free  ;  they  gathered  up  the  Spanish 
governor  and  his  councillors,  and,  having  put  them  on  board  ship,  sent  them 
decisively  out  of  the  country.  Only  one  step  remained,  and  it  was  speedily 
taken.  Next  year  Venezuela  declared  her  independence,  and  prepared  as  she 
best  might  to  assert  it  in  arms  against  the  forces  of  Spain. 

One  of  the  fathers  of  South  American  independence  was  Francis  Miranda. 
He  was  a  native  of  Caraccas,  and  now  a  man  in  middle  life.  It  was  this  man 
who  laid  the  foundations  of  independence,  but  he  himself  was  not  permitted  to 
see  the  triumph  of  the  great  cause.  The  patriot  arms  had  made  some  prog- 
ress, and  high  hopes  were  entertained ;  but  the  province  was  smitten  by  an 
earthquake,  which  overthrew  several  towns  and  destroyed  20,000  lives.  The 
priests  interpreted  this  calamity  as  the  judgment  of  heaven  upon  rebellion, 
and  the  credulous  people  accepted  their  teaching.  The  cause  of  independence 
thus  supernaturally  discredited,  was  for  the  time  abandoned.  Miranda  him- 
self fell  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  and  perished  in  a  Spanish  dungeon,  and 
his  lieutenant,  Don  Simon  Bolivar,  was  the  destined  vindicator  of  the  liberties 
of  the  South  American  continent. 


s^ 


5^ 


CHILI. 


F  all  the  Spanish  provinces  of  America,  Chili  furnishes  the  best 
example  of  a  well-ordered,  settled,  and  prosperous  state.  Its 
area  is  only  one-fifth  and  its  population  one-fourth  that  of 
Mexico,  but  its  foreign  commerce  is  nearly  one-half  lari^^cr. 
For  this  commerce  its  situation  is  peculiarly  favorable.  Chili, 
a  long  and  narrow  country,  lies  on  the  Pacific,  with  which  it 
communicates  by  upward  of  fifty  seaports.  It  is,  therefore, 
only  in  small  measure  dependent  for  its  progress  upon  railways  and  navigable 
rivers. 

For  sixteen  years  after  throwing  off  the  Spanish  yoke.  Chili  was  governed 
despotically,  without  a  constitution.  During  those  years  constant  disorders 
prevailed.  At  length  the  general  wish  of  the  nation  was  gratified.  A  consti- 
tution was  promulgated,  under  which  the  franchise  was  bestowed  on  every 
married  man  of  twenty-one  years,  and  on  every  unmarried  man  of  twenty-five,, 
who  was  able  to  read  and  write.  With  this  constitution  the  people  have  been 
satisfied.  The  government  has  been  throughout  in  the  hands  of  a  moderate 
conservative  party,  which  has  directed  public  affairs  with  firmness  and  wisdom, 
and  has  manifested  zeal  in  the  correction  of  abuses.  Opposing  parties  have 
not  in  Chili,  as  in  the  neighboring  states,  wasted  the  country  by  their  fierce 
contentions  for  ascendency.  In  the  exercise  of  a  wise  but  rare  moderation, 
the  views  of  either  party  have  been  modified  by  those  of  the  other.  A  method 
of  government  has  thus  been  reached  which  men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  have 
been  able  to  accept,  and  under  Avhich  the  prosperous  development  of  the 
country  has  advanced  with  surprising  rapidity. 


THE  ARGENTINE  CONFEDERATION. 


jUENOS  AYRES,  a  city  founded  during  the  early  years  of  the 
conquest,  was  the  seat  of  one  of  the  viceroyalties  by  which  the 
Spaniards  conducted  the  government  of  the  continent.  It 
stands  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Plate,  not  far  from  the 
ocean.  The  Plate  and  its  tributary  rivers  flow  through  vast 
treeless  plains,  where  myriads  of  horses  and  cattle  roam  at  will 
among  grass  which  attains  a  height  equal  to  their  own.  WJien 
the  dominion  of  Spain  ceased,  Buenos  Ayres  naturally  assumed 
a  preponderating  influence  in  the  new  government.  The  provinces  which  had 
composed  the  old  viceroyalty  formed  themselves  into  a  confederation,  with  a 


180  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

constitution  modelled  on  that  of  the  United  States.  Buenos  Ayres  was  the 
only  port  of  shipment  for  the  inland  provinces.  Her  commercial  importance, 
as  well  as  her  metropolitan  dignity,  soon  aroused  jealousies  which  could  not 
be  allayed.  Within  a  few  years  the  confederation  was  repudiated  by  nearly 
all  its  members,  and  for  some  time  each  of  the  provinces  governed  itself  inde- 
pendently of  the  others. 

The  twenty-three  years  of  despotism  had  done  nothing  to  solve  the  political 
problems  which  still  demanded  solution  at  the  hands  of  the  Argentine  people. 
The  tedious  and  painful  work  had  now  to  be  resumed.  The  province  of 
Buenos  Ayres  declared  itself  out  of  the  confederation,  and  entered  upon  a 
separate  career.  The  single  state  was  wisely  governed,  and  made  rapid  prog- 
ress in  all  the  elements  of  prosperity.  Especially  it  copied  the  New  England 
common-school  system.  The  thirteen  states  from  which  it  had  severed  itself 
strove  to  repress  or  to  rival  its  increasing  greatness ;  but  their  utmost  efforts 
could  scarcely  avert  decay.  They  declared  war,  in  the  barbarous  hope  of 
crushing  their  too  prosperous  neighbor.  Buenos  Ayres  was  strong  enough  to 
inflict  defeat  upon  her  assailants.  She  now,  on  her  own  terms,  re-entered  the 
confederation,  of  which  her  chief  city  became  once  more  the  capital. 


CENTRAL  AMERICA. 


L^j^^yiXCE  the  time  of  the  Spanish  Conquest,  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
i^Cj^^lS'      Central  America  has  been  the  theatre  of  tribal  wars,  fierce  relig- 
^|7TT>      ious  animosities,  dictatorial   usurpations,  and  volcanic  eruptions 
<^>_^,>i^      and  earthquakes,  carrying  widespread  destruction  and  death. 
d^^T'i*^  Guatemala — then  Central  America — originally  composed  all 

the  narrow  part  of  the  continent,  extending  over  800  miles  in  length,  and 
covering  an  area  of  130,000  square  miles.  As  a  geographical  division,  what  is 
now  known  as  Central  America  would  include  the  entire  stretch  of  territory 
from  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  to  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  which  forms  the 
nexus  between  the  two  great  continents  of  North  and  South  America.  But 
the  political  inter-relationship  has  so  influenced  the  use  of  the  name,  that  it 
now  distinguishes  that  area  confined  in  the  five  independent  republics  of  North 
America,  Costa  Rica,  Nicaragua,  Honduras,  San  Salvador  and  Guatemala. 
The  Isthmus  of  Panama  belongs  to  the  division  of  South  America,  as  a  part 
of  New  Granada,  while  the  Peninsula  of  Yucatan  and  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuan- 
tepec are  incorporated  with  North  America,  as  parts  of  Mexico.  The  five 
provinces  do  not  greatly  vary  in  their  physical  characteristics.  The  surface  of 
of  the  country  is  hilly,  and  in  most  parts  mountainous,  and  the  climate  warm 
and  very  moist. 


BAY    OF    RIO. 


BRAZIL. 


, .  ING  John,  of  Portugal,  to  whom  Columbus  first  made  offer  of  his 
^T  project  of  discovery,  was  grievously  chagrined  when  the  success 
^     of  the  great  navigator  revealed  the  magnificence  of  the  rejected 


opportunity.  Till  then  Portugal  had  occupied  the  foremost  place 
^-  as  an  explorer  of  unknown  regions.  She  had  already  achieved  the 
discovery  of  all  the  western  coasts  of  Africa,  and  was  now  about  to  open 
a  new  route  to  the  East  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Suddenly  her  fame 
was  eclipsed.  While  she  occupied  herself  with  small  and  barren  discoveries, 
Spain  had  found,  almost  without  the  trouble  of  seeking,  a  new  world  of  vast 
extent  and  boundless  wealth. 

Portugal  had  obtained  from  the  Pope  a  grant  of  all  lands  which  she  should 
discover  in  the  Atlantic,  with  the  additional  advantage  of  full  pardon  for  the 
sins  of  all  persons  who  should  die  while  engaged  in  the  work  of  exploration. 
The  sovereigns  of  Spain  were  equally  provident  in  regard  to  the  new  territory 
which  they  were  now  in  course  of  acquiring.  The  accommodating  Pope,  will- 
ing to  please  both  powers,  divided  the  world  between  them.  He  stretched  an 
imaginary  line  from  pole  to  pole,  one  hundred  leagues  to  the  westward  of  the 

(isi) 


-^g2  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Cape  de  Verd  islands  :  all  discoveries  on  the  eastern  side  of  this  boundary 
were  inven  to  Portugal,  while  those  on  the  west  became  the  property  of  Spain, 
Portu'-^al,  dissatisfied  with  the  vast  gift,  proposed  that  another  line  should  be 
drawn,  stretching  from  east  to  west,  and  that  she  should  be  at  liberty  to  pos- 
sess all  lands  which  she  might  find  between  that  line  and  the  South  Pole. 
Sp:iin  objected  to  this  huge  deduction  from  her  expected  possessions.  Ulti- 
mately Spain  consented  that  the  papal  frontier  should  be  removed  westward 
to  a  distance  of  270  leagues  from  the  Cape  de  V^erd  islands,  and  thus  the  dis- 
pute was  happily  terminated. 

Six  years  after  this  singular  transaction,  by  which  two  small  European 
states  parted  between  them  all  unexplored  portions  of  the  earth,  a  Portuguese 
navi>'-ator — Pedro  Alvarez  Cabral — set  sail  from  the  Tagus  in  the  prosecution 
of  discovery  in  the  East.  He  stood  far  out  into  the  Adantic,  to  avoid  the 
calms  which  habitually  baffled  navigation  on  the  coast  of  Guinea.  His  reckon- 
ing was  loosely  kept,  and  the  ocean  currents  bore  his  ships  westward  into 
res^ions  which  it  was  not  his  intention  to  seek.  After  forty-five  days  of  voyag- 
ing he  saw  before  him  an  unknown  and  unexpected  land.  In  searching  for 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  he  had  reached  the  shores  of  the  great  South  Ameri- 
can Continent,  and  he  hastened  to  claim  for  the  King  of  Portugal  the  territory 
he  had  found,  but  regarding  the  extent  of  which  he  had  formed  as  yet  no  con- 
jecture. Three  Spanish  captains  had  already  landed  on  this  part  of  the  con- 
tinent and  asserted  the  right  of  Spain  to  its  ownership.  For  many  years  Spain 
maintained  languidly  the  right  which  priority  of  discovery  had  given.  But 
l^ortugal,  to  whom  an  interest  in  the  wealth  of  the  New  World  was  an  object 
of  vehement  desire,  took  effective  possession  of  the  land.  She  sent  out  sol- 
•  diers ;  she  built  forts  ;  she  subdued  the  savage  natives  ;  she  founded  colonies; 
she  established  provincial  governments.  Although  Spain  did  not  formally 
withdraw  her  pretentions,  she  gradually  desisted  from  attempts  to  enforce 
them  ;  and  the  enormous  territory  of  Brazil  became  a  recognized  appendage  of 
a  petty  European  state  whose  area  was  scarcely  larger  than  the  one-hundredth 
part  of  that  which  she  had  .so  easily  acquired. 

For  300  years  Brazil  remained  in  colonial  subordination  to  Portugal.  Her 
boundaries  were  in  utter  confusion,  and  no  man  along  all  that  vast  frontier 
could  tell  the  limits  of  Portuguese  dominion.  Her  Indians  were  fierce,  and 
bore  with  impatience  the  inroads  which  the  strangers  made  upon  their  pos- 
sessions. The  French  seized  the  Bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  The  Dutch  con- 
quered large  territories  in  the  north.  But  in  course  ot  years  these  difficulties 
were  overcome.  The  foreigners  were  expelled.  The  natives  were  tamed, 
pardy  by  arms,  pardy  by  the  teaching  of  zealous  Jesuit  missionaries.  Some 
progress  was  made  in  opening  the  vast  interior  of  the  country  and  in  fixing 
Its  boundaries.  On  the  coast  population  increased  and  numerous  setdements 
sprung  up.     The  cultivation  of  coffee,  which  has   since  become  the  leading 


,liM, 


184 


THE   GOLDEN    TREASURY. 


Brazilian  industry,  was  introduced.     Some  simple  manufactures  were  estab-3 
lished,  and  the  country  began    to  export  her  surplus  products  to   Europe.} 
There  was  much  misgovernment ;  for  the  despotic  tendencies  of  the  captains- 
o-eneral  who  ruled  the  country  were  scarcely  mitigated  by  the  authority  of] 
the  distant  court  of  Lisbon.     The  enmity  of  Spain  never  ceased,  and  frotnj 
time  to  time  burst  forth  in   wasteful  and  bloody  frontier  wars.     Sometimes! 
the  people  of  cities  rose  in  insurrection  against  the  monopolies   by  whiclij 
wicked  governors  wronged  them.     Occasionally  there  fell  out  quarrels  be- 
tween different  provinces,  and  no  method  of  allaying  these  could  be  found  ex- 
cepting war.     Once  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  was  sacked  by  the  French. 
Brazil  had  her  full  share  of  the  miseries  which  the  foolishness  and  the  evilj 
temper  of  men  have  in  all  ages  incurred.     These  hindered,  but  did  not  alto-J 
gether  frustrate,  the  development  of  her  enormous  resources. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  the  Brazilian  people  began   to  estimatel 
more  justly  than   they  had  done   before  the  elements   of  national  greatness! 
which  surrounded   them,  and   to   perceive   how   unreasonable   it  was  that 
country  almost  as  large  as  Europe  should   remain  in   contented  dependence 
on  one  of  the  most  inconsiderable  of  European  states.     The  English  colonies 
in  North  America  threw  off  the  yoke  of  the  mother  country.     The  air  wasl 
full  of  those  ideas  of  liberty  which  a  year  or  two  later  bore  fruit  in  the  French! 
Revolution.     A  desire  for  independence  spread  among  the  Brazilians,  and  ex-J 
pressed  itself  by  an  ill-conceived  rising  in   the  province  of  Minas  Geraesr 
But  the  movement  was  easily  suppressed,  and  the  Portuguese  government 
maintained  for  a  little  longer  its  sway  over  this  noblest  of  colonial  posses 
sions. 

During  the  earlier  years  of  the  French  Revolution,  Portugal  was  permittee 
to  watch  in  undisturbed  tranquillity  the  wild  turmoils  by  which  the  other 
European  nations  were  afflicted.  At  length  it  seemed  to  the  Emperor  Napo-j 
leon  that  the  possession  of  the  Portuguese  kingdom,  and  especially  of  the 
Porti.guese  fleet,  was  a  fitting  step  in  his  audacious  progress  to  universal  do-j 
minion.  A  French  army  entered  Portugal ;  a  single  sentence  in  the  Motiiteuf 
informed  the  world  that  "the  House  of  Braganza  had  ceased  to  reign."'  The 
French  troops  suffered  so  severely  on  their  march,  that  ere  they  reached  Lis-I 
bon  they  were  incapable  of  offensive  operations.  But  so  timid  was  the  gov-j 
ernment,  so  thoroughly  was  the  nation  subdued  by  fear  of  Napoleon,  that  \\ 
was  determined  to  offer  no  resistance.  The  capital  of  Portugal,  with  a  popu-| 
lation  of  300,000,  and  an  army  of  14,000,  opened  its  gates  to  1,500  raggec 
and  famishing  Frenchmen,  who  wished  to  overturn  the  throne  and  degrade 
the  country  into  a  French  province. 

Before  this  humiliating  submission  was  accomplished,  the  royal  family  had 
gathered  together  its  most  precious  effects,  and  with  a  long  train  of  followers] 
set  sail  for  Brazil.     The  insane  queen  was  accompanied  to  the  place  of  em- 


BRAZIL.  1^5 

barkation  by  the  prince  regent  and  the  princes  and  princesses  of  the  family, 
all  in  tears;  the  multitudes  who  thronged  to  look  upon  the  departure  lifted 
up  their  voices  and  wept.  Men  of  heroic  mould  would  have  made  themselves 
ready  to  hold  the  capital  of  the  state  or  perish  in  its  ruins ;  but  the  faint- 
hearted people  of  Lisbon  were  satisfied  to  bemoan  themselves.  When  they 
had  gazed  their  last  at  the  receding  ships  they  hastened  to  receive  their  con- 
querors and  supply  their  needs. 

The  presence  of  the  government  hastened  the  industrial  proo-ress  of 
Brazil.  The  prince  regent  (who  in  a  few  years  became  king)  began  his 
rule  by  opening  the  Brazilian  ports  to  the  commerce  of  all  friendly  nations. 
Seven  years  later  it  was  formally  decreed  that  the  colonial  existence  of  Brazil 
should  cease.  She  was  now  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  kingdom,  united  with 
Portugal  under  the  same  crown.  Her  commerce  and  agriculture  increased; 
she  began  to  regard  as  her  inferior  the  country  of  which  she  lately  had  been 
a  dependency. 

The  changed  relations  of  the  two  states  were  displeasing  to  the  people 
of  Portugal.  The  council  by  which  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  were  conducted 
became  unpopular.  The  demand  for  constitutional  government  extended 
from  Spain  into  Portugal.  The  Portuguese  desired  to  see  their  king  again 
in  Lisbon,  and  called  loudly  for  his  return.  The  king  consented  to  the  wish 
of  his  people  reluctantly ;  for  besides  other  and  graver  reasons  why  he  should 
not  quit  Brazil,  his  majesty  greatly  feared  the  discomforts  of  a  sea-voyage. 
His  son,  the  heir  to  his  throne,  became  regent  in  Brazil. 

The  Brazilians  resented  the  departure  of  the  king.  The  Portuguese 
meditated  a  yet  deeper  humiliation  for  the  state  whose  recent  acquisition  of 
dignity  was  still  an  offence  to  them.  There  came  an  order  from  the  Cortes 
that  the  prince  regent  also  should  return  to  Europe.  The  Brazilians  were 
now  eager  that  the  tie  which  bound  them  to  the  mother  country  should  be 
dissolved.  The  prince  regent  was  urged  to  disregard  the  summons  to  re- 
turn. After  some  hesitation  he  rave  effect  to  the  gfeneral  wish,  and  intimated 
his  purpose  of  remaining  in  Brazil.  A  few  months  later  he  was  proclaimed 
emperor,  and  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms  ceased.  Constitutional  govern- 
ment was  set  up.  But  the  administration  of  the  emperor  was  not  sufficiendy 
liberal  to  satisfy  the  wishes  of  his  people.  After  nine  years  of  deepening  un- 
popularity he  resigned  the  crown  in  favor  of  his  son,  Dom  Pedro,  whose  reign 
extended  over  the  long  period  of  forty-nine  years. 

Brazil  covers  almost  one-half  the  South  American  Continent,  and  has 
therefore  an  area  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  eight  states  of  Spanish  origin 
by  which  she  is  bounded.  She  is  as  large  as  the  British  dominions  in  North 
America  ;  she  is  larger  than  the  United  States,  excludingr  the  untrodden  wastes 
of  Alaska.  One,  and  that  not  the  largest,  of  her  twenty  provinces  is  ten 
times  the  size  of  England.     Finally,  her  area  is  equal  to  five-sixths  that  of 


186  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

Europe.  She  has  a  sea-coast  hue  of  4,000  miles.  She  has  a  marvellous 
system  of  river  communication  ;  the  Amazon  and  its  tributaries  alone  are 
navjo-able  for  25,000  miles  within  Brazilian  territory.  Her  mineral  wealth  is 
so  ample  that  the  governor  of  one  of  her  provinces  was  wont,  in  religious 
processions,  to  ride  a  horse  whose  shoes  were  of  gold ;  and  the  diamonds  of 
the  royal  family  are  estimated  at  a  value  of  ;^3,ooo,ooo  sterling.  Her  soil  and 
climate  conspire  to  bestow  upon  her  agriculture  an  opulence  which  is  unsur- 
passed and  probably  unequalled.  An  acre  of  cotton  yields  in  Brazil  four  times 
as  much  as  an  acre  in  the  United  States.  Wheat  gives  a  return  of  thirty  to  sev- 
enty-fold ;  maize,  two  hundred  to  four-hundred-fold;  rice,  a  thousand-fold. 
Brazil  supplies  nearly  one-half  the  coffee  which  the  human  family  consumes. 
An  endless  variety  of  plants  thrive  in  her  genial  soil.  Sugar  and  tobacco,  as 
well  as  cotton,  coffee,  and  tea,  are  staple  productions.  Nothing  which  the 
tropics  yield  is  wanting,  and  in  many  portions  of  the  empire  the  vegetation 
of  the  temperate  zones  is  abundantly  productive.  The  energy  of  vegetable 
life  is  everywhere  excessive.  The  mangrove  seeds  send  forth  shoots  before 
they  fall  from  the  parent  tree ;  the  drooping  branches  of  trees  strike  roots 
when  they  touch  the  ground,  and  enter  upon  independent  existence  ;  wood 
which  has  been  split  for  fences  hastens  to  put  forth  leaves ;  grasses  and  other 
plants  intertwine  and  form  bridges  on  which  the  traveller  walks  in  safety. 

But  the  scanty  population  of  Brazil  is  wholly  insufficient  to  subdue  the 
enormous  territory  on  which  they  have  settled  and  make  its  vast  capabilities 
conduce  to  the  welfare  of  man.  The  highest  estimate  gives  to  Brazil  a  popu- 
lation of  from  eleven  to  twelve  million.  She  has  thus  scarcely  four  inhabi- 
tants to  every  square  mile  of  her  surface,  while  England  has  upward  of  400. 
Vast  forests  still  darken  iier  soil,  and  the  wild  luxuriance  of  tropical  under- 
growth renders  them  well-nigh  impervious  to  man.  There  are  boundless 
expanses  of  wilderness  imperfectly  explored,  still  roamed  over  by  untamed 
and  often  hostile  Indians.  Persistent  but  not  eminendy  successful  efforts  have 
been  made  to  induce  European  and  now  to  induce  Chinese  immigration.  The 
population  continues,  however,  to  increase  at  such  a  rate  that  it  is  larger  by 
nearly  two  million  than  it  was  ten  years  ago.  But  these  accessions  are  trivial 
when  viewed  in  relation  to  the  work  which  has  still  to  be  accomplished.  It  is 
said  that  no  more  than  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  part  of  the  agricultural 
resources  of  Brazil  has  yet  been  developed  or  even  revealed. 

Among  the  people  of  the  cities  of  Brazil  we  find  several  classes.  The  en- 
terprising business  class,  planters,  etc.,  is  made  up  of  native  Brazilians,  Portu- 
guese, and  Europeans  generally.  The  lower  class  forms  a  mixed  multitude 
of  Portuguese,  aborigines  and  negroes.  The  children  of  this  class  go  about 
nearly  naked  until  ten  or  twelve  years  old.  All  of  the  lower  orders  have  a 
passion  for  jewelry — gold,  if  practicable ;  if  not,  gilt  being  acceptable — the 
main  point  being  that  it  shall  be  big  and  brilliant.     Negro  girls,  selling  fruit. 


NIAGARA    OF    BRAZIL. 


(187 


ISS  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

dress  in  white,  and  carry  large  trays  on  their  heads,  while  their  necks  and 
ears  are  loaded  down  with  massive  chains,  charms,  and  rings. 

Nowhere  can  an  honest,  hard-working  man  get  on  so  \vell  with  such  a 
minimum  of  money  or  ability  as  in  the  interior  and  smaller  towns  of  Brazil. 
The  services  of  a  useful  hand,  whatever  be  his  specialty,  will  be  paid  for  at 
once,  and  at  the  highest  possible  value,  and  will  always  remain  in  demand, 
and  it  is  simply  his  own  fault  if  employment  does  not  lead  on  to  fortune,  and 
to  what  we  may  call  rank.  i 

Altoo-ether,  if  we  consider  the  present  condition  of  Brazil  as  regards  its 
government,  the  nature  of  its  population,  and  the  character  of  its  industries 
and  natural  products,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  here  offered  to  the  world  a 
field  for  the  exercise  of  human  intelligence  and  energy  quite  unsurpassed,  a 
climate  and  soil  possessing  peculiarly  advantageous  qualities,  and  a  wealth  of 
natural  production  almost  unsurpassed. 

The  Emperor  of  Brazil,  Dom  Pedro  II.,  was  born  in  Rio  Janeiro,  Decem- 
ber 2d,  1825.  He  was  crowned  July  18th,  1841,  and  since  his  accession  to 
the  throne  Brazil  has  been  steadily  increasing  in  power  and  usefulness.  The 
emperor  possesses  remarkable  literary  and  scientific  acquirements,  is  a  just 
and  liberal  sovereign,  and  enjoys  the  warm  affection  of  his  people.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences. 

On  November  14th,  1889,  and  the  succeeding  days  a  revolution  broke  out 
in  the  Empire  of  Brazil,  which  in  many  respects  was  a  remarkable  event.  The 
outside  world  had  no  suspicion  that  a  strong  republican  feeling  existed  in 
Brazil,  or  that  any  dissatisfaction  was  felt  at  the  course  of  the  aged  Emperor, 
who  had  reigned  in  peace  and  prosperity  for  well  nigh  fifty  years.  The 
leader  of  the  revolution  was  General  Da  Fonseca,  who  is  now  President  of 
the  Brazilian  Republic.  The  revolution  was  notable  for  the  swiftness  with 
which  it  succeeded,  and  for  the  absence  of  riot  and  violence  during  its  brief 
progress.  It  appeared  that  the  Emperor  had  no  partisans,  even  in  his  own 
capital,  to  strike  a  blow  for  him  ;  nor  does  the  Emperor  himself  seem  to  have 
for  a  moment  thought  of  resisting  the  revolutionary  tide.  He  simply  awaited 
the  good  pleasure  of  the  successful  chiefs  of  the  republican  party;  and  their 
good  pleasure  was  that  he  should  sail  for  Portugal.  Set  sail  he  did,  without 
a  word  of  remonstrance  or  even  of  reeret. 

Thus  quickly  and  quietly  passed  away  the  only  monarchy  remaining  on 
eidier  American  continent ;  thus  was  the  circle  of  American  republics  made 
at  last  complete  by  the  memorable  accession  to  them  of  the  United  States  of 
Brazil.  It  is  important  to  note  that  for  a  certain  period  at  least  monarchy  as 
a  political  institution  has  been  absolutely  repudiated  from  the  Canada  line  to 
Cape  Horn,  and  that  the  republican  principle  has  been  accepted  and  adopted 
throughout  the  area  of  the  self-governing  American  nations. 

1  he  revolution  in  Brazil  was  not,  however,  the  result  of  an  uprising  against 


BRAZIL. 

tyranny,  for  Dom  Pedro  was  a  liberal-minded  monarch.  The  following  poem 
composed  by  him  many  years  ago  for  a  lady's  album  exhibits  his  keen  sense 
of  duty: 

If  I  am  pious,  clement,  just, 

I  am  only  what  I  ouglit  to  be  ; 
The  sceptre  is  a  mighty  trust, 
A  great  responsibihty ; 


DOM    PEDRO 


And  he  who  rules  with  faithful  hand. 

With  depth  of  thought  and  breadth  of  range. 

The  sacred  laws  should  understand. 
But  must  not  at  his  pleasure  change. 


The  chair  of  justice  is  the  throne  ; 
Wiio  takes  it,  bows  to  higher  laws; 
188a 


THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

The  public  good,  and  not  his  own, 
Demands  his  care  in  every  cause. 

Neglect  of  duty — always  wrong — 
Detestable  in  young  or  old — 

By  him  whose  place  is  high  and  strong 
Is  magnified  a  thousand-fold. 

When  in  the  East  the  glorious  sun 

Spreads  o'er  the  earth  the  light  of  day. 
All  know  the  course  that  he  will  run, 

Nor  wonder  at  his  light  or  way ; 
But  if,  perchance,  the  light  that  blazed 

Is  dimmed  by  shadows  lying  near. 
The  startled  world  looks  on  amazed, 

And  each  one  watches  it  with  fear. 

I,  likewise,  if  I  always  give 

To  vice  and  virtue  their  rewards, 
But  do  my  duty  thus  to  live : 

No  one  his  thanks  to  me  accords. 
But  should  I  fail  to  act  my  part, 

Or  wrongly  do,  or  leave  undone, 
Surprised,  the  people  then  would  start 

With  fear,  as  at  the  shadowed  sun. 


1886 


CANADA. 


cess  which  had 
crowned  the 
efforts  of  Columbus  awak- 
ened in  Europe  an  eager 
desire  to  make  fresh  dis- 
coveries. Henry  VII.  of 
England  had  consented 
to  equip  Columbus  for  his  voyage;  but  the  consent  was  withheld  too  long,  and 
given  only  when  it  was  too  late.  England  and  France  had  missed  the  splendid 
prize  which  Columbus  had  won  for  Spain.     They  hastened    now  to  secure 

(189) 


HARBOR    AND    CITY    OF   QUEBEC. 


190  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

what  they  could.  A  merchant  of  Bristol,  John  Cabot,  obtained  permission 
from  the  king  of  England  to  make  discoveries  in  the  northern  parts  of  America. 
Cabot  was  to  bear  all  expenses,  and  the  king  was  to  receive  one-fifth  of  the 
o-ains  of  the  adventure.  Taking  with  him  his  son  Sebastian,  John  Cabot  sailed 
straio-ht  westward  across  the  Adantic.  He  reached  the  American  continent,  of 
which  he  was  the  undoubted  discoverer.  The  result  to  him  was  disappointing. 
He  landed  on  the  coast  of  Labrador.  Being  in  the  same  latitude  as  England, 
he  reasoned  that  he  should  find  the  same  genial  climate.  To  his  astonishment 
he  came  upon  a  region  of  intolerable  cold,  dreary  with  ice  and  snow.  John 
Cabot  had  not  heard  of  the  Gulf  Stream  and  its  marvellous  influences.  He 
did  not  know  that  the  western  shores  of  northern  Europe  are  rescued  from 
perpetual  winter,  and  warmed  up  to  the  enjoyable  temperature  which  they 
possess,  by  an  enormous  river  of  hot  water  flowing  between  banks  of  cold 
water  eastward  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  Cabots  made  many  \  oyages 
afterwards,  and  explored  the  American  coast  from  extreme  north  to  extreme 
south. 

The  French  turned  their  attention  to  the  northern  parts  of  the  New  World. 
The  rich  fisheries  of  Newfoundland  attracted  them.  Jacques  Cartier,  a  famous 
sea-captain,  sailed,  on  a  bright  and  warm  July  day,  into  the  gulf  which  lies  be- 
tween Newfoundland  and  the  mainland.  He  saw  a  great  river  flowing  into 
the  gulf,  with  a  width  of  estuary  not  less  than  loo  miles.  It  was  the  day  of  St. 
Lawrence,  and  he  opened  a  new  prospect  of  immortality  for  that  saint  by  giv- 
ing his  name  to  river  and  to  gulf.  He  erected  a  large  cross,  thirty  feet  high,  on 
which  were  imprinted  the  insignia  of  France  ;  and  thus  he  took  formal  pos- 
session of  the  country  in  the  king's  name.  He  sailed  for  many  days  up  the 
river  between  the  silent  and  pathless  forests,  past  great  chasms  down  which 
there  rolled  the  waters  of  tributary  streams,  under  the  gloomy  shadow  of  huge 
precipices,  past  fertile  meadow-lands  and  sheltered  islands  where  the  wild  vine 
flourished.  The  Indians  in  their  canoes  swarmed  around  the  ships,  giving 
the  strangers  welcome,  receiving  hospitable  entertainment  of  bread  and  wine. 
At  length  they  came  where  a  vast  rocky  promontory,  300  feet  in  height, 
stretched  far  into  the  river.  Here  the  chief  had  his  home ;  here,  on  a  site 
worthy  to  bear  the  capital  of  a  great  state,  arose  Quebec  ;  here,  in  later  days, 
England  and  France  fought  for  supremacy,  and  it  was  decided  by  the  sword 
that  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  was  to  guide  the  destinies  of  the  American 
continent. 

Numerous  tribes  of  savages  inhabited  the  Canadian  wilderness.  They 
ordmarily  lived  in  villages  built  of  logs,  and  strongly  palisaded  to  resist  the 
attack  of  enemies.  They  were  robust  and  enduring,  as  the  climate  re- 
quired;  danng  m  war,  friendly  and  docile  in  peace.  The  torture  of  an  enemy 
was  their  highest  form  of  enjoyment;  when  the  victim  bore  his  sufferings 
bravely  the  youth  of  the  village  ate  his  heart  in  order  that  they  might  become 


CANADA. 


191 


possessed  of  his  virtues.  They  had  orators,  politicians,  chiefs  skilled  to  lead 
in  their  rude  wars.  Most  of  their  weapons  were  of  flint.  They  felled  the 
great  pines  of  their  forests  with  stone  axes,  supplemented  by  the  use  of  fire. 
Their  canoes  were  made  of  the  bark  of  birch  or  elm.  They  wore  breastplates 
of  twigs.  It  was  their  habit  to  occupy  large  houses,  in  some  of  which  as  many 
as  twenty  families  lived  together  without  any  separation.  Licentiousness  was 
universal  and  excessive.  Their  religion  was  a  series  of  grovellino-  super- 
stitions. There  was  not  in  any  Indian  language  a  word  to  express  the  idea 
of  God  ;  their  heaven  was  one  vast  banqueting-hall  where  men  feasted  per- 
petually. 

The  origin  of  the  American  savage  awakened  at  one  time  much  controversy 
among  the  learned.  Had  there  been  a  plurality  of  creative  acts  ?  Had  Euro- 
peans at  some  remote  period  been  driven  by  the  contrary  winds  across  the 
great  sea  ?  If  not,  where  did  the  red  man  arise,  and  by  what  means  did  he 
reach  the  continent  where  white  men  found  him  ?  When  these  questions  were 
debated,  it  was  not  known  how  closely  Asia  and  America  approach  each  other 
at  the  extreme  north.  A  narrow  strait  divides  the  two  continents,  and  the 
Asiatic  savage  of  the  far  north-east  crosses  it  easily.  The  red  men  are  Asiat- 
ics, who,  by  a  short  voyage  without  terrors  to  them,  reached  the  north-western 
coast  of  America,  and  gradually  pushed  their  way  over  the  continent.  The 
great  secret  which  Columbus  revealed  to  Europe  had  been  forages  known  to 
the  Asiatic  tribes  of  the  extreme  north. 

In  course  of  years  it  became  evident  that  England  and  France  must  settle 
by  conflict  their  claims  upon  the  American  continent.  So  many  conflicting 
grants  were  made  by  the  monarchs  of  the  respective  nations  that  no  lawyer 
could  reconcile  them.  The  region  called  Nova  Scotia  was  claimed  by  both 
British  and  French,  the  latter  calling  it  by  the  name  of  Acadia. 

The  opening  lines  of  Longfellow's  beautiful  poem,  "Evangeline,"  are  de- 
scriptive of  the  region  of  Acadia  : 

"  This  is  the.  forest  primeval.     The  murmuring  pines  and  the  hemlocks, 
Bearded  with  moss,  and  in  garments  green,  indistinct  in  the  twilight, 
Stand  like  druids  of  eld,  with  voices  sad  and  prophetic. 
Stand  like  harpers  hoar,  with  beards  that  rest  on  their  bosoms. 
Loud  from  its  rocky  caverns,  the  deep-voiced  neighboring  ocean 
Speaks,  and  in  accents  disconsolate  answers  the  wail  of  the  forest. 

In  the  Acadian  land,  on  the  shores  of  the  Basin  of  Minas, 
Distant,  secluded,  still,  the  little  village  of  Grand-Pre 
Lay  in  the  fruitful  valley.     Vast  meadows  stretched  to  the  eastward. 
Giving  the  village  its  name,  and  pasture  to  flocks  without  number. 
Dikes,  that  the  hands  of  the  farmers  had  raised  with  labor  incessant, 
Shut  out  the  turbulent  tides ;  but  at  stated  seasons  the  flood-gates 
Opened,  and  welcomed  the  sea  to  wander  at  will  o'er  the  meadows. 


192 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


West  and  south  there  were  fields  of  flax,  and  orchards  and  cornfields    • 
Spreading  afar  and  unfenced  o'er  the  plain  ;  and  away  to  the  northward 
Blomidon  rose,  and  the  forests  old,  and  aloft  on  the  mountains 
Sea-fogs  pitched  their  tents,  and  mists  from  the  mighty  Atlantic 
Looked  on  the  happ)-  valley,  but  ne'er  from  their  station  descended." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  success  was  mainly  with  the  French.  The 
Enorjish  were  without  competent  leadership.  An  experienced  and  skilled  offi- 
cer— the  Marquis  de  Montcalm — commanded  the  French,  and  gained  impor- 
tant advantage  over  his  adversaries.  He  took  Fort  William  Henry,  and  his 
allies  massacred  the  garrison.  He  took  and  destroyed  two  English  forts  on 
Lake  Ontario.  He  made  for  himself  at  Ticonderoga  a  position  which  barred 
the  English  from  access  to  the  western  lakes.     The  war  had  lasted  for  nearly 

three  years  ;  and  Canada  not  mere- 
ly kept  her  own,  but,  with  greatly 
inferior  resources,  was  able  to  hold 
her  powerful  enemy  on  the  defen- 
sive. 

But  now  the  impatient  English 
shook  off  the  imbecile  government 
under  which  this  shame  had  been 
incurred,  and  the  strong  hand  of 
William  Pitt  assumed  direction  of 
the  war.  He  found  among  his 
older  officers  no  man  to  whom  he 
could  intrust  the  momentous  task. 
Casting  aside  the  routine  which 
has  brought  ruin  upon  so  many 
fair  enterprises,  he  promoted  to 
the  chief  command  a  young  sol- 
dier of  feeble  health,  gentle,  sensi- 
tive, modest,  in  whom  his  unerring 
perception  discovered  the  qualities 
he  required.  That  young  soldier 
was  James  Wolfe,  who  had  already 
in  subordinate  command  evinced  courage  and  high  military  genius.  To  him 
Pitt  intrusted  the  forces  whose  arms  were  now  to  fix  the  destiny  of  a  con- 
tinent. 

While  Wolfe  lay  on  a  sick-bed,  a  council  of  war  was  called,  and  Colonel 
Townshend  proposed  the  skilfully  audacious  plan  which  was  adopted  by  all. 
Above  Quebec,  a  narrow  path  had  been  discovered  winding  up  the  precip- 
itous cliff,  300  feet  high ;  this  was  to  be  secretly  ascended,  and  the  Heights  of 
Abraham  gained,  which  overlook  the  city.     Part  of  the  British  fleet,  containing 


DEATH    OF   MONTCALM. 


CANADA.  193 

that  portion  of  the  army  which  had  occupied  the  northern  shore,  sailed  past 
Quebec  to  Cap-Rouge.  The  rest  of  the  troops  marched  up  the  south  sliore 
till  they  arrived  opposite  the  men-of-war.  Here  embarking  in  flat-bottom 
boats,  they  dropped  down  the  river  the  same  night  to  Wolfe's  cove,  and  almost 
unopposed,  division  after  division  scaled  the  Heights.  When  morning  dawned, 
Wolfe's  whole  disposable  force,  in  number  4,828,  with  one  small  gun,  was 
ranged  in  battle-array  upon  the  Plains  of  Abraham. 

The  Heights  of  Abraham  stretch  westward  for  three  miles  from  the  de- 
fences of  the  upper  town,  and  form  a  portion  of  a  lofty  table-land  which  extends 
to  a  distance  from  the  city  of  nine  miles.  They  are  from  two  to  three  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  river.  Their  river-side  is  well-nigh  perpendicular 
and  wholly  inaccessible,  save  where  a  narrow  footpath  leads  to  the  summit. 

It  was  by  this  path — on  which  two  men  could  not  walk  abreast — that  Wolfe 
intended  to  approach  the  enemy.  The  French  had  a  few  men  guarding  the 
upper  end  of  the  path  ;  but  the  guard  was  a  weak  one,  for  they  apprehended 
no  attack  here.  Scarcely  ever  before  had  an  army  advanced  to  battle  by  a 
track  so  difficult. 

The  troops  were  all  received  on  board  the  ships,  which  sailed  for  a  few 
miles  up  stream.  During  the  night  the  men  re-embarked  in  a  flotilla  of  boats 
and  dropped  down  with  the  receding  tide.  They  were  instructed  to  be  silent. 
No  sound  of  oar  was  heard,  or  of  voice,  excepting  that  of  Wolfe,  who  in  a  low 
tone  repeated  to  his  officers  the  touching,  and  in  his  own  case  prophetic, 
verses  of  Gray's  "  Elegy  in  a  Country  Churchyard."  Quickly  the  landing- 
place  was  reached,  and  the  men  stepped  silently  on  shore.  One  by  one  they 
climbed  the  narrow  woodland  path.  As  they  neared  the  summit,  the  guard, 
in  panic,  fired  their  muskets  down  the  cliff  and  fled.  The  ships  had  now 
dropped  down  the  river,  and  the  boats  plied  incessantly  between  them  and  the 
landing-place.  All  night  long  the  landing  proceeded.  The  first  rays  of  the 
morning  sun  shone  upon  an  army  of  nearly  five  thousand  veteran  British  sol- 
diers solidly  arrayed  upon  the  Heights  of  Abraham,  eager  for  battle  and  con- 
fident of  victory.  Wolfe  marched  them  forward  till  his  front  was  within  a  mile 
of  the  city,  and  there  he  waited  the  attack  of  the  French. 

Montcalm  had  been  wholly  deceived  as  to  the  purposes  of  the  British,  and 
was  unprepared  for  their  unwelcome  appearance  on  the  Heights.  He  had 
always  shunned  battle ;  for  the  larger  portion  of  his  troops  were  Canadian 
militia,  on  whom  little  reliance  could  be  placed.  He  held  them,  therefore, 
within  his  intrenchments,  and  trusted  that  the  approaching  winter  would  drive 
away  his  assailants  and  save  Canada.  Even  now  he  might  have  sheltered 
himself  behind  his  defences,  and  delayed  the  impending  catastrophe.  But  his 
store  of  provisions  and  of  ammunition  approached  exhaustion,  and  as  the  Eng- 
lish ships  rode  unopposed  in  the  river,  he  had  no  ray  of  hope  from  without. 
Montcalm  elected  that  the  great  controversy  should  be  decided  by  batde. 
13 


194  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

He  marched  out  to  the  attack  with  7,500  men,  of  whom  less  than  one- 
half  were  regular  soldiers,  besides  a  swarm  of  Indians,  almost  worthless  for 
fio-htinfj  such  as  this.  The  ?>ench  advanced  firing,  and  inflicted  considerable 
loss  upon  their  enemy.  The  British  stood  immovable,  unless  when  they 
silendy  closed  the  ghastly  openings  which  the  bullets  of  the  French  created. 
At  length  the  hostile  lines  fronted  each  other  at  a  distance  of  forty  yards,  and 
Wolfe  gave  the  command  to  fire.  From  the  levelled  muskets  of  the  British 
lines  there  burst  a  well-aimed  and  deadly  volley.  That  fatal  discharge  gained 
the  batde,  gained  the  city  of  Quebec,  gained  dominion  of  a  continent.  The 
Canadian  militia  broke  and  fled.  Montcalm's  heroic  presence  held  for  a  mo- 
ment the  soldiers  to  their  duty ;  but  the  British,  flushed  with  victory,  swept 
forward  on  the  broken  and  fainting  enemy.  Montcalm  fell,  pierced  by  a 
mortal  wound ;  the  French  army  in  hopeless  rout  sought  shelter  within  the 
ramparts  of  Quebec. 

Both  generals  fell.  Wolfe  was  thrice  struck  by  bullets,  and  died  upon  the 
field,  with  his  latest  breath  oivincr  God  thanks  for  this  crownino-  success. 
Montcalm  died  on  the  following  day,  pleased  that  his  eyes  were  not  to  wit- 
ness the  surrender  of  Quebec.  The  battle  lasted  only  for  a  few  minutes  ;  and 
having  in  view  the  vast  issues  which  depended  on  it,  the  loss  was  inconsider- 
able. Only 'fifty-five  British  were  killed  and  600  wounded;  the  loss  of  the 
French  was  twofold  that  of  their  enemies. 

From  this  time  Canada  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  English.  When  the 
American  colonists  revolted  they  desired  the  Canadians  to  act  with  them,  and 
assist  them  in  their  efforts  against  the  British  government.  This  the  Cana- 
dians  declined  to  do,  and  the  Americans  invaded  their  territory,  but  were, 
however,  repulsed.  During  the  course  of  the  peaceful  years  which  followed, 
Canada  increased  steadily. 

In  181 2,  Canada  was  again  involved  in  war,  and  subjected  to  the  miseries 
of  invasion. 

Many  Americans  clung  to  the  belief  that  the  Canadians  were  dissatisfied 
with  their  government,  and  would  be  found  ready  to  avail  themselves  of  an 
opportunity  to  adopt  republican  institutions.  But  no  trace  of  any  such  dis- 
position manifested  itself  The  colonists  were  tenaciously  loyal,  and  were  no 
more  moved  by  the  blandishments  than  they  were  by  the  arms  of  their  re- 
publican invaders. 

Soon  after  the  declaradon  of  war  an  American  army  of  2,500  men  set 
out  to  conquer  western  Canada.  The  commander  of  this  force  was  General 
Hull,  who  announced  to  the  Canadians  that  he  had  come  to  bring-  them 
"peace,  liberty,  and  security,"  and  was  able  to  overbear  with  ease  any  re- 
sistance which  it  was  in  their  power  to  offer.  But  victory  did  not  attach  her- 
self to  the  standards  of  General  Hull.  The  English  commander,  General 
Brock,  was  able  to  hold  the  Americans  in  check,  and  to  furnish  General  Hull 


CANADA.  195 

with  reasons  for  withdrawing  his  troops  from  Canada  and  taking  up  position 
at  Detroit.  Thitlier  he  was  quickly  followed  by  the  daring  Englishman,  lead- 
ing a  force  of  700  soldiers  and  militia  and  600  Indians.  He  was  proceeding 
to  attack  General  Hull,  but  that  irresolute  warrior  averted  the  dano-er  by  an 
ignominious  capitulation. 

A  litde  later  a  second  invasion  was  attempted,  the  aim  of  which  was  to 
possess  Oueenstown.  It  was  equally  unsuccessful,  and  reached  a  similar  ter- 
mination— the  surrender  of  the  invading  force.  Still  further,  an  attempt  to 
seize  Montreal  resulted  in  failure.  Thus  closed  the  first  campaign  of  this  lam- 
entable war.  Everywhere  the  American  invaders  had  been  foiled  by  gready 
inferior  forces  of  militia,  supported  by  a  handful  of  regular  troops.  The  war 
had  been  always  distasteful  to  a  large  portion  of  the  American  people.  On 
the  day  when  the  tidings  of  its  declaration  were  received  in  Boston,  flags- 
were  hung  out  half-mast  high  in  token  of  general  mourning.  The  New 
England  States  refused  to  contribute  troops  to  fight  in  a  cause  which  they 
condemned.  The  shameful  defeats  which  had  been  sustained  in  Canada  en- 
couraged the  friends  of  peace,  and  the  policy  of  invasion  was  loudly  de- 
nounced as  unwise  and  unjust. 

The  close  of  the  war  was  equally  disastrous  to  the  invaders.  Since  then 
peace  has  reigned  in  Canada  ;  and  it  is  with  pleasure  we  note  the  friendly  feel- 
ing that  is  constantly  growing  between  the  great  Republic  and  the  great 
Dominion. 

There  still  remain  in  the  various  provinces  of  the  Dominion  about  90,000 
Indians  to  represent  the  races  who  possessed  the  continent  when  the  white 
man  found  it.  Canada  has  dealt  in  perfect  fairness  with  her  Indians ;  and  the 
Indians  have  requited  with  constant  loyalty  the  government  which  has  treated 
them  with  justice.  A  rebellion  was  indeed  raised  by  the  French  half-breed 
population,  upon  the  Dominion  of  Canada  desiring  to  add  to  its  possessions 
the  vast  domain  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 

Their  leader  in  the  rebellion  by  which  they  hoped  to  throw  off  the  au- 
thority of  Canada  and  Great  Britain,  and  establish  themselves  as  an  inde- 
pendent nation,  was  Louis  Riel,  an  ambitious  but  reckless  young  French  Ca- 
nadian. Riel  became  president  of  the  new  republic,  and  gathered  an  armed 
force  of  600  men  to  uphold  the  national  dignity.  He  turned  back  at  the 
frontier  the  newly  appointed  governor ;  he  seized  Fort  Garry,  in  which  were 
ample  stores  of  arms  and  provisions ;  he  imprisoned  all  who  offered  active 
opposition  to  his  rule.  The  distant  Canadian  government  looked  on  at  first 
as  amused  with  this  diminutive  rebellion.  They  did  not  think  of  employing 
force  to  restore  order ;  they  sought  the  desired  end  by  persuasion. 

A  party  of  loyal  inhabitants  made  a  hasty  and  ill-prepared  rising  against: 
the  authority  of  the  provisional  government.  They  were  easily  beaten  back 
by  the  superior  forces  under  Riel's  command,  and  some  of  them  were  taken 


19G 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


prisoners.  Among  these  was  a  Canadian  named  Scott,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  by  his  obstinate  hostihty  to  the  rule  of  the  usurpers.  Riel  deter- 
mined to  overawe  his  enemies  and  compel  the  adherence  of  his  friends  by 

an  act  of  most  conspicuous 


and  unpardonable  severity. 
Poor  Scott  was  subjected 
to  the  trial  of  a  mock  tri- 
bunal, whose  judgment  sent 
him  to  death.  An  hour 
later  he  was  led  forth  be- 
yond the  gate  of  the  fort. 
Kneeling,  with  bandaged 
eyes,  among  the  snow,  he 
was  shot  by  a  firing-party 
of  intoxicated  half-breeds 
almost  before  he  had  time 
to  realize  the  cruel  fate 
which  had  befallen  him. 

This  shameful  murder  in- 
vested the  Red  River  rebel- 
lion with  a  gravity  of  aspect 
which  it  had  not  hitherto 
worn.  There  then  arose  in 
Canada  a  vehement  demand 
that  the  criminals  should  be  punished  and  the  royal  authority  restored.  The 
despatch  of  a  military  force  sufficiently  strong  to  overbear  the  resistance  of 
the  insurgent  Frenchmen  was  at  once  resolved  upon. 

Happily  there  was  at  that  time  in  Canada  an  officer  endowed  with  rare 
power  in  the  department  of  military  organization.  To  this  officep,  now  well 
known  as  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley,  was  intrusted  the  task  of  preparing  and  com- 
manding the  expedition.  No  laurels  were  gained  by  the  forces  which  Colonel 
Wolseley  led  out  into  the  wilderness ;  for  the  enemy  did  not  abide  their  com- 
ing, and  their  modest  achievements  were  unnoticed  amid  the  absorbing  in- 
terest with  which  men  watched  the  tremendous  occurrences  of  the  war  then 
raging  between  Germany  and  France.  Nevertheless,  the  Red  River  expedi- 
tion claims  an  eminent  place  in  the  record  of  military  transactions.  It  is 
probably  the  solitary  example  of  an  army  advancing  by  a  lengthened  and 
almost  impracticable  route,  accomplishing  its  task,  and  returning  home  with- 
out the  loss  of  a  single  life  either  in  battle  or  by  disease.  And  the  wise  fore- 
thought which  provided  so  effectively  for  all  the  exigencies  of  that  unknown 
journey  is  more  admirable  than  the  generalship  which  has  sufficed  to  gain 
bloody  victories  in  many  recent  wars. 


THE  THOUSAND    ISLANDS. 


CANADA.  197 

Under  the  constitution  of  Canada  executive  power  is  vested  in  the  qiieen 
and  administered  by  her  representative,  the  governor  general.  This  officer 
is  aided  and  advised  by  a  Privy  Council,  composed  of  the  heads  of  the 
various  great  departments  of  state.  The  Senate  is  composed  of  seventy- 
eight  members  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  holding  office  for  life.  The 
House  of  Commons  consists  of  206  members.  These  are  chosen  by  the 
votes  of  citizens  possessing  a  property  qualification,  the  amount  of  which 
varies  in  the  different  provinces.  Canada  gives  the  franchise  to  those  per- 
sons in  towns  who  pay  a  yearly  rent  of  six  pounds,  and  to  those  not  in  towns 
who  pay  four  pounds  ;  New  Brunswick  demands  the  possession  of  real  estate 
valued  at  twenty  pounds,  or  an  annual  income  of  eighty  pounds;  and  Nova 
Scotia  is  almost  identical  in  her  requirements.  The  duration  of  Parliament 
is  limited  to  five  years,  and  its  members  receive  payment.  The  Parliament 
of  the  Dominion  regulates  the  interests  which  are  common  to  all  the  prov- 
inces;  each  province  has  a  lieutenant-governor  and  a  legislature  for  the 
guidance  of  its  own  local  affairs.  Entire  freedom  of  trade  exists  between  the 
provinces  which  compose  the  Canadian  nation. 

Canada  is,  in  respect  of  extent,  the  noblest  colonial  possession  over  which 
any  nation  has  ever  exercised  dominion.  It  covers  an  area  of  3,330,000 
square  miles.  Europe  is  larger  by  only  half  a  million  square  miles;  the 
United  States  is  smaller  to  nearly  the  same  extent.  The  distances  with 
which  men  have  to  deal  in  Canada  are  enormous.  From  Ottawa  to  Winni- 
peg is  1,400  miles — a  journey  equal  to  that  which  separates  Paris  from  Con- 
stantinople. The  adventurous  traveller,  who  would  push  his  way  from  Win- 
nipeg to  the  extreme  north-west,  has  a  farther  distance  of  2,000  miles  to  trav- 
erse. The  representatives  of  Vancouver  island  must  travel  2,500  miles  in 
order  to  reach  the  seat  of  government.  The  journey  from  London  to  the 
Ural  mountains  is  not  greater  in  distance,  and  is  not  by  any  means  so  diffi- 
cult. From  Halifax,  the  capital  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  New  Westminster,  the 
capital  of  British  Columbia,  there  is  a  distance  of  4,000  miles. 

The  occupation  of  about  one-half  of  the  Canadian  people  is  agriculture. 
In  the  old  provinces  there  are  nearly  500,000  persons  who  occupy  agricul- 
tural lands.  Of  these,  nine-tenths  own  the  soil  which  they  till ;  only  one- 
tenth  pay  rent  for  their  lands,  and  they  do  so  for  the  most  part  only  until 
they  have  gained  enough  to  become  purchasers.  The  agricultural  laborer — a 
class  so  numerous  and  so  little  to  be  envied  in  England — is  almost  unknown 
in  Canada.  No  more  than  2,000  persons  occupy  this  position,  which  is  to 
them  merely  a  step  in  the  progress  toward  speedy  ownership.  Land  is  easily 
acquired;  for  the  government,  recognizing  that  the  grand  need  of  Canada  is 
population,  offers  land  to  every  man  who  will  occupy  and  cultivate,  or  sells  ar 
prices  which  are  little  more  than  nominal.  The  old  provinces  are  filling  up 
steadily  if  not  with  rapidity.      During  the   ten  years  from   1851    to    1861    the 


198 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


land  under  cultivation  had  become  greater  by  about  one-half.  During  the 
following  decade  tiie  increase  was  in  the  same  proportion.  Schools  of  agri- 
culture and  model  farms  have  been  established  by  government,  and  the  rude 
methods  by  which  cultivation  was  formerly  carried  on  have  experienced  vast 
ameliorations.  Agriculture  has  become  less  wasteful  and  more  productive. 
Much  attention  is  given  to  the  products  of  the  dairy.  Much  care  has  been 
successfully  bestowed  upon  the  improvement  of  horses  and  cattle.  The 
manufacture  and  use  of  agricultural  implements  has  largely  increased.  The 
short  Canadian  summer  lays  upon  the  farmer  the  pressing  necessity  of  swift 


SCENE    ON    THE   EASTERN    COAST   OF    CANADA. 

harvesting,  and  renders  the  help  of  machinery  specially  valuable.  In  the  St. 
Lawrence  valley  the  growing  of  fruit  is  assiduously  prosecuted ;  and  the  ap- 
ples, pears,  plums,  peaches,  and  grapes  of  that  region  enjoy  high  reputation. 
Success  almost  invariably  rewards  the  industrious  Canadian  farmer.  The 
rich  fields,  the  well-fed  cattle,  the  comfortable  farm-houses,  all  tell  of  pros- 
perity and  contentment. 

The  fisheries  of  the  Dominion  form  one  of  its  valuable  industries.  The 
eastern  coasts  are  resorted  to  by  myriads  of  fishes,  most  prominent  among 
which  is  the  cod-fish,  whose  preference  for  low  temperatures  restrains  its 
farther  progress  southward.  Sixty  thousand  men  and  25,000  boats  find  profit- 
able occupation  in  reaping  this  abundant  harvest.  A  minister  of  fisheries 
tvatches  over  this  great  industry.     Seven  national  institutions  devote  them- 


CANADA.  199 

selves  to  the  culture  of  fish,  especially  of  the  salmon,  and  prosecute  experi- 
ments in  regard  to  the  introduction  of  new  varieties. 

Besides  the  oudays  incurred  in  carrying  on  the  ordinary  business  of  gov- 
ernment, large  sums,  raised  by  loan,  are  annually  expended  on  public  works. 
Navigation  on  the  great  rivers  of  Canada  is  interrupted  by  numerous  rapids 
and  falls.  Unless  these  obstructions  be  overcome,  the  magnificent  water-way 
with  which  Canada  is  endowed  will  be  of  imperfect  usefulness.  At  many 
points  on  the  rivers  and  lakes  canals  have  been  constructed.  The  formidable 
impediment  which  the  great  Fall  of  Niagara  offers  to  navigation  is  sur-. 
mounted  by  the  Welland  canal,  twenty-seven  miles  in  length,  and  on  which, 
with  its  branches,  two  and  a  half  million  sterling  have  been  expended.  Much 
care  is  bestowed,  too,  upon  the  deepening  of  rivers,  and  the  removal  of  rocks 
and  other  obstructions  to  navigation.  The  vast  distances  of  Canada  render 
railways  indispensable  to  her  development.  The  Canadian  government  and 
people  have  duly  appreciated  this  necessity.  They  have  already  constructed 
7,000  miles  of  railway,  and  are  proceeding  rapidly  with  farther  extension. 

Between  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the  Pacific  there  lies  a  vast  tract  of 
fertile  land,  possessing  an  area  equal  to  six  times  that  of  England  and 
Wales.  This  is  British  Columbia — the  latest-born  member  of  the  confedera- 
tion, which  it  entered  only  in  1871.  The  waters  of  the  Pacific  exert  upon  its 
climate  the  same  softening  influence  which  is  carried  by  the  Gulf  Stream  to 
corresponding  latitudes  in  Europe,  and  the  average  temp&rature  of  Columbia 
does  not  differ  materially  from  that  of  England.  Gold  is  found  in  the  sands 
of  the  rivers  which  flow  down  from  the  Rocky  mountains ;  coal  in  abundance 
lies  near  the  surface  ;  large  tracts  are  covered  with  pine-forests  whose  trees 
attain  unusual  size;  many  islands  stud  the  placid  waters  which  wash  the 
western  shores  of  the  province  ;  many  navigable  inlets  sweep  far  into  the  in- 
terior— deep  into  forests,  for  the  transport  of  whose  timber  they  provide 
ample  convenience.  In  the  streams  and  on  the  coasts  there  is  an  extraor- 
dinary abundance  of  fish  ;  on  the  banks  of  the  Eraser  river  the  English 
miner  and  the  Indian  fisherman  may  be  seen  side  by  side  pursuing  their  avo- 
cations with  success.  The  wealth  of  Columbia  secures  for  her  a  prosperous 
future ;  but  as  yet  her  development  has  only  begun.  Her  population  is  about 
12,000,  besides  30,000  Indians.  Her  great  pine-forests  have  yet  scarcely 
heard  the  sound  of  the  axe ;  her  rich  valleys  lie  untilled ;  her  coal  and  iron 
wait  the  comincr  of  the  strong  arms  which  are  to  draw  forth  their  treasures; 
even  her  tempting  gold-fields  are  cultivated  but  slighdy.  Columbia  must  be- 
come the  home  of  a  numerous  and  thriving  populadon,  but  in  the  meantime 
her  progress  is  delayed  by  her  remoteness  and  her  inaccessibility. 


I 


THE   CAPITOL.   AT   ^A^ASHINGTON. 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


"  Lord  of  the  Universe!  shield  us  and  guide  us, 

Trusting  Thee  always,  through  shadow  and  sun : 
Thou  hast  united  us,  who  shall  divide  us  ? 
Keep  us,  O  keep  us,  the  Many  in  One ! 
Up  with  our  banner  bright, 
Sprinkled  with  starry  light. 
Spread  its  fair  emblems  from  mountain  to  shore  ; 
While  through  the  sounding  sky, 
Loud  rings  the  nation's  cry, — 
Union  and  Liberty  ! — one  evermore  !  " — 0.  IV.  Holmes. 

^)  IGHTY  years  had  passed  since  the  discoveries  by  the  Cabots 
before  EngHshmen  made  any  serious  effort  to  estabUsh  homes 
in  North  America.  Under  a  patent  from  Queen  EHzabeth  in 
1585,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  sent  108  colonists  to  occupy  Virginia, 
which  had  been  so  named  by  Elizabeth  in  honor  of  her  own 
state  as  a  maiden  queen.  This  attempted  setdement  ended  in 
total  failure,  a  result  brought  about  by  the  hardships  of  the 
wilderness  and  massacre  by  Indians. 

(200) 


THE    UNITED   STATES.  201 

Another  attempt  at  colonization  was  made,  and  in  course  of  time  a  perma- 
nent settlement  was  formed. 

The  most  enterprising  and  useful  man  among  the  settlers  was  Captain 
John  Smith.  He  was  a  man  of  great  strength — bold,  active,  judicious,  and 
enterprising ;  and  by  his  exertions  alone  the  colony  was  often  saved  from  fam- 
ine, and  prevented  from  being  destroyed  by  the  Indians. 

When  the  welfare  of  the  colony  was  in  some  measure  secured,  Smith  set 
forth  with  a  few  companions  to  explore  the  interior  of  the  country.  He  and 
his  followers  were  captured  by  the  Indians,  and  the  followers  were  summarily 
butchered.  Smith's  composure  did  not  fail  him  in  the  worst  extremity.  He 
produced  his  pocket-compass,  and  interested  the  savages  by  explaining  its 
properties.  He  wrote  a  letter  in  their  sight — to  their  infinite  wonder.  They 
spared  him,  and  made  a  show  of  him  in  all  the  settlements  round  about.  He 
was  to  them  an  unfathomable  mystery.  He  was  plainly  superhuman.  Whether 
his  power  would  bring  to  them  good  or  evil,  they  were  not  able  to  determine. 
After  much  hesitation  they  chose  the  course  which  prudence  seemed  to  counsel. 
They  resolved  to  extinguish  powers  so  formidable,  regarding  whose  use  they 
could  obtain  no  guarantee.  Smith  was  bound  and  stretched  upon  the  earth, 
his  head  resting  upon  a  great  stone.  The  mighty  club  was  uplifted  to  dash 
out  his  brains.  But  Smith  was  a  man  who  won  golden  opinions  of  all.  The 
Indian  chief  had  a  daughter,  Pocahontas,  a  child  of  ten  or  twelve  years.  She 
could  not  bear  to  see  the  pleasing  Englishman  destroyed.  As  Smith  lay  wait- 
ing the  fatal  stroke,  she  caught  him  in  her  arms  and  interposed  herself  be- 
tween him  and  the  club.     Her  intercession  prevailed,  and  Smith  was  set  free. 

From  lands  originally  belonging  to  Virginia  a  new  colony  had  been  formed, 
with  a  more  liberal  constitution  both  as  to  civil  and  religious  rights.  George 
Calvert,  the  first  Lord  Baltimore,  obtained  from  Charles  I.,  in  1629,  a  grant  of 
lands  north  of  the  Potomac,  where  all  persons,  but  especially  Catholics,  might 
enjoy  freedom  of  worship.  The  country  was  called  Maryland  in  honor  of  the 
queen,  Henrietta  Maria. 

Great  religious  differences  now  existed  in  England.  Many  hundreds  of 
Puritans,  finding  that  there  was  no  toleration  for  their  views  in  England,  sep- 
arated themselves  from  the  church,  and  as  many  as  were  able  sought  an  asy- 
lum in  Holland. 

Eleven  quiet  and  not  unprosperous  years  were  spent  in  Holland.  The 
pilgrims  worked  with  patient  industry  at  their  various  handicrafts.  They 
quickly  gained  the  reputation  of  doing  honestly  and  effectively  whatever  they 
professed  to  do,  and  thus  they  found  abundant  employment.  Mr.  Brewster 
established  a  printing-press,  and  printed  books  about  liberty,  which,  as  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing,  gready  enraged  the  foolish  King  James.  The 
little  colony  received  additions  from  time  to  time  as  oppression  in  England  be- 
came more  intolerable. 


202 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


The  instinct  of  separation  was  strong  within  the  pilgrim  heart.  They  could 
not  bear  the  thought  that  their  little  colony  was  to  mingle  with  the  Dutchmen 
and  lose  its  independent  existence.  But  already  their  sons  and  daughters 
were  formino-  alliances  which  threatened  this  result.  The  fathers  considered 
long  and  anxiously  how  the  danger  was  to  be  averted.  They  determined 
ao-ain  to  go  on  pilgrimage.  They  would  seek  a  home  beyond  the  Atlantic, 
where  they  could  dwell  apart  and  found  a  state  in  which  they  should  be  free 
to  think. 

The  Mayflower,  in  which  the  pilgrims  made  their  voyage,  was  a  ship  of  i6o 


PLYMOUTH    ROCK. 


tons.  The  weather  proved  stormy  and  cold  ;  the  voyage  unexpectedly  long. 
It  was  early  in  September  when  they  sailed;  it  was  not  till  the  nth  of  No- 
vember that  the  Mayflower  dropped  her  anchor  in  the  waters  of  Cape  Cod 
bay. 

It  was  a  bleak-looking  and  discouraging  coast  which  lay  before  them. 
Nothing  met  the  eye  but  low  sand-hills,  covered  with  ill-grown  wood  down  to 
the  margin  of  the  sea.  The  pilgrims  had  now  to  choose  a  place  for  their 
setdement.  About  this  they  hesitated  so  long  that  the  captain  threatened  to 
put  them  all  on  shore  and  leave  them.  Litde  expeditions  were  sent  to  explore. 
At  first  no  suitable  locality  could  be  found.     The  men  had  great  hardships  to 


THE    UNIIEIJ    STATES. 


203 


endure.  The  cold  was  so  excessive  that  the  spray  froze  upon  their  clothes, 
and  they  resembled  men  cased  in  armor.  At  length  a  spot  was  fixed  upon. 
The  soil  appeared  to  be  good,  and  abounded  in  "  delicate  springs  "  of  water. 
On  the  23d  of  December,  the  pilgrims  landed,  stepping  ashore  upon  a  huge 
bowlder  of  granite  which  is  still  reverendy  preserved  by  their  descendants. 
Here  they  resolved  to  found  their  settlement,  which  they  agreed  to  call  New 
Plymouth. 

Twenty-three  years  after  the  landing  of  the  pilgrims  the  population  of  New 


AN    INDIAN    ATTACK. 

England  had  grown  to  24,000.  Forty-nine  litde  wooden  towns,  with  their 
.wooden  churches,  wooden  forts,  and  wooden  ramparts,  were  dotted  here  and 
there  over  the  land.  There  were  four  separate  colonies,  which  hitherto  had 
maintained  separate  governments.  They  were  Plymouth,  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  and  New  Haven.  There  appeared  at  first  a  disposition  in  the 
pilgrim  mind  to  scatter  widely,  and  remain  apart  in  small  self-governing  com- 
munities. For  some  years  every  litde  band  which  pushed  deeper  into  the 
wilderness  setded  itself  into  an  independent  state,  having  no  political  relations 
with  its  neiehbors.     But  this  isolation   could  not  continue.     The  wilderness 


204  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

had  other  inhabitants,  whose  presence  was  a  standing  menace.  Within  "  strik- 
ing- distance "  there  were  Indians  enough  to  trample  out  the  soHtary  Htde 
EncrUsh  communities.  On  their  frontiers  were  Frenchmen  and  Dutchmen — 
natural  enemies,  as  all  men  in  that  time  were,  to  each  other.  For  mutual  de- 
fence and  encouragement,  the  four  colonies  joined  themselves  into  the  United 
Colonies  of  New  England.  This  was  the  first  confederation  in  a  land  where 
confederations  of  unprecedented  magnitude  were  hereafter  to  be  established. 

During  the  first  forty  years  of  its  existence  the  great  city  which  we  call 
New  York  was  a  Dutch  settlement,  known  among  men  as  New  Amsterdam. 
That  region  had  been  discovered  for  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  by  Henry 
Hudson,  who  was  still  in  search,  as  Columbus  had  been,  of  a  shorter  route  to 
the  East.  The  Dutch  have  never  displayed  any  aptitude  for  colonizing ;  but 
they  were  unsurpassed  in  mercantile  discernment,  and  they  set  up  trading-sta- 
tions with  much  judgment.  Three  or  four  years  after  the  pili;rims  landed  at 
Plymouth  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  determined  to  enter  into  trading 
relations  with  the  Indians  along  the  line  of  the  Hudson  river.  They  sent  out 
a  few  families,  who  planted  themselves  at  the  southern  extremity  of  Manhattan 
island.     The  whole  country  in  their  possession  they  called  New  Netherlands. 

The  Dutch  retained  possession  of  New  Netherlands  until  the  year  1664, 
a  period  of  about  fifty  years,  when  an  English  fleet  arrived  and  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  country.  The  Dutch  governor  at  that  time  was  Peter  Stuy- 
vesant.  He  did  all  in  his  power  to  induce  his  people  to  take  up  arms  and  re- 
sist the  English,  and  it  was  not  until  two  days  after  the  magistrates  of  New 
Amsterdam  had  agreed  to  the  surrender  that  he  reluctantly  yielded  it.  Dur- 
ing the  next  year  a  Dutch  fleet  arrived  and  reconquered  the  country ;  but  in 
the  succeeding  year  it  was  restored  to  the  English,  who  held  it  until  the 
American  Revolution. 

The  name  of  William  Penn  will  ever  be  associated  with  all  that  is  interest- 
ing in  the  early  history  of  Pennsylvania.  This  man  was  the  only  son  of  Ad- 
miral Penn,  who  long  served  his  country  with  ability  and  honorable  reputa- 
tion as  an  officer  in  the  English  navy.  At  an  early  age  the  son  was  sent  to 
the  University  of  Oxford,  but  becoming  imbued  with  the  principles  of  a  re- 
ligious sect  called  Quakers,  or  Friends,  he  was  fined  for  boldly  avowing  their 
sentiments,  and  afterwards  expelled  from  the  university,  at  the  age  of  sixteen. 

As  the  English  government  was  indebted  to  his  father,  he  applied  for  and 
obtained  a  grant  of  territory  in  America,  in  payment  of  the  debt.  In  honor 
of  Penn's  father,  the  territory  thus  granted  was  named  Pennsylvania.  In  the 
year  1681,  Penn  sent  out  several  ships  with  emigrants,  mostly  Quakers,  and 
he  gave  instructions  to  his  agent  that  he  should  govern  the  litde  colony  in 
harmony  with  law  and  religion — that  he  should  gain  the  good  will  of  the  na- 
tives— and  that  if  a  city  should  be  commenced  as  the  capital  of  the  province, 
it  should  not  be  like  the  crowded  towns  of  the  old  world,  but  should  be  laid 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


205 


out   with   a  garden  around  each  house,  so    as  to  form  "a    green  countrj-- 
town." 

Penn  dealt  justly  and  kindly  with  the  Indians,  and  they  requited  him  with 
a  reverential  love  such  as  they  evinced  to  no  other  Englishman.     The  neicrh- 

boring  colonies  waged  bloody  wars  with  the  Indians  who  lived  around  them 

now  inflicting  defeats  which  were  almost  exterminating — now  sustaining  hide- 
ous massacres.     Penn's  Indians  were  his  children  and  most  loyal  subjects. 


PENN'S   TREATY    WITH    THE    INDIANS. 


No  drop  of  Quaker  blood  was  ever  shed  by  Indian  hand  in  the  Pennsylvania 
territory.  Soon  after  Penn's  arrival  he  invited  the  chief  men  of  the  Indian 
tribes  to  a  conference.  The  meeting  took  place  beneath  a  huge  elm  tree. 
The  pathless  forest  has  long  given  way  to  the  houses  and  streets  of  Philadel- 
phia, but  a  marble  monument  points  out  to  strangers  the  scene  of  this  mem- 
orable interview.  Penn,  with  a  few  companions,  unarmed,  and  dressed  ac- 
cording to  the   simple  fashion  of  their   sect,  met  the  crowd  of  formidable 


206  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

savao-es.  They  met,  he  assured  them,  as  brothers  "on  the  broad  pathway  of 
o-ood  faith  and  good  will."  No  advantage  was  to  be  taken  on  either  side. 
All  was  to  be  "  openness  and  love  ;  "  and  Penn  meant  what  he  said.  Strong 
in  the  power  of  truth  and  kindness,  he  bent  the  fierce  savages  of  the  Dela- 
ware to  his  will.  They  vowed  "  to  live  in  love  with  William  Penn  and  his 
children  as  long  as  the  moon  and  the  sun  shall  endure."  They  kept  their 
vow.  Long  years  after,  they  were  known  to  recount  to  strangers,  with  deep 
emotion,  the  words  which  Penn  had  spoken  to  them  under  the  old  elm  tree 
of  Shakamaxon. 

The  fame  of  Penn's  settlement  went  abroad  in  all  lands.  Men  wearied 
with  the  vulgar  tyranny  of  kings  heard  gladly  that  the  reign  of  freedom  and 
tranquillity  was  established  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  An  asylum  was 
opened  "  for  the  good  and  oppressed  of  every  nation."  Of  these  there  was 
no  lack.  Pennsylvania  had  nothing  to  attract  such  "dissolute  persons"  as 
had  laid  the  foundations  of  Virginia.  But  grave  and  God-fearing  men  from 
all  the  Protestant  countries  sought  a  home  where  they  might  live  as  con- 
science taught  them.  The  new  colony  grew  apace.  Its  natural  advantages 
were  tempting.  Penn  reported  it  as  "  a  good  land,  with  plentiful  springs,  the 
air  clear  and  fresh,  and  an  innumerable  quantity  of  wild-fowl  and  fish — what 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  would  be  well  contented  with."  During  the  first 
year  twenty-two  vessels  arrived,  bringing  2,000  persons.  In  three  years 
Philadelphia  was  a  town  of  600  houses.  It  was  half  a  century  from  its  foun- 
dation before  New  York  attained  equal  dimensions. 

When  Penn,  after  a  few  years,  revisited  England,  he  was  able  truly  to  re- 
late that  "  things  went  on  sweedy  with  friends  in  Pennsylvania ;  that  they  in- 
creased finely  in  outward  things  and  in  wisdom." 

The  thirteen  States  which  composed  the  original  Union  were  Virginia, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New  Hampshire,  Delaware,  Mary- 
land, Pennsylvania,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
and  Georgia. 

Of  these  the  latest  born  was  Georgia.  Only  fifty  years  had  passed  since 
Penn  established  the  Quaker  State  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  But 
changes  greater  than  centuries  have  sometimes  wrought  had  taken  place. 
The  Revolution  had  vindicated  the  liberties  of  the  British  people.  The 
tyrant  house  of  Stuart  had  been  cast  out,  and  with  its  fall  the  era  of  despotic 
government  had  closed.  The  real  governing  power  was  no  longer  the  king, 
but  the  Parliament. 

Among  the  members  of  Parliament  during  the  rule  of  Sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole  was  one  almost  unknown  to  us  now,  but  deserving  of  honor  beyond  most 
men  of  his  time.  His  name  was  James  Oglethorpe.  He  was  a  soldier,  and 
had  fought  against  the  Turks  and  in  the  grreat  Marlboroueh  wars  against 
Louis  XIV.     In  advanced  life  he  became  the  friend  of  Samuel  Johnson.     Dr. 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


207 


Johnson  urged  him  to  write  some  account  of  his  adventures.  "I  know  no 
one,"  he  said,  "whose  life  would  be  more  interesting:  if  I  were  furnished  with 
materials  I  should  be  very  glad  to  write  it."  Edmund  Burke  considered  him 
"  a  more  extraordinary  person  than  any  he  had  ever  read  of."  John  Wesley 
"  blessed  God  that  ever  he  was  born."  Oglethorpe  attained  the  great  age  of 
ninety-six,  and  died  in  the  year  1785.  The  year  before  his  death  he  attended 
the  sale  of  Dr.  Johnson's  books,  and  was  there  met  by  Samuel  Rogers,  the 
poet.  "  Even  then,"  says  Rogers,  "  he  was  the  finest  figure  of  a  man  you 
ever  saw  ;  but  very,  very  old — the  flesh  of  his  face  like  parchment." 

This  kind-hearted  man,  observing  that  there  were  great  numbers  of  poor 
people  in  England,  who  could  with  difficulty  obtain  a  living  there  and  were 
often  imprisoned  for  debts  which  they  could  not  pay,  conceived  the  project 
of  improving  their  condition  by  transporting  them  to  America,  and  giving 
them  the  lands  on  which  they  should  settle. 

Without  difficulty  Oglethorpe  found  associates  to  unite  with  him  in  his 
benevolent  enterprise,  and  in  the  year  1732  the  King  of  England  gave  them 
a  grant  of  the  country  between  the  rivers  Altamaha  and  Savannah,  which 
they  were  to  hold,  not  for  their  own  benefit,  but,  as  was  expressed  in  the 
charter,  "  in  trust  for  the  poor." 

In  November  of  the  same  year  Oglethorpe  sailed  with  1 20  emigrants, 
mainly  selected  from  the  prisons — penniless,  but  of  good  repute.  He  sur- 
veyed the  coast  of  Georgia,  and  chose  a  site  for  the  capital  of  his  new  State. 
He  pitched  his  tent  where  Savannah  now  stands,  and  at  once  proceeded  to 
mark  out  the  lines  of  streets  and  squares.  \* 

Next  year  the  colony  was  joined  by  about  a  hundred  German  Protestants, 
who  were  then  under  persecution  for  their  beliefs.  The  colonists  received 
this  addition  to  their  numbers  with  joy.  A  place  of  residence  had  been 
chosen  for  them  which  the  devout  and  thankful  strangers  named  Ebenezer. 
They  were  charmed  with  their  new  abode.  The  rivers  and  the  hills,  they  said, 
reminded  them  of  home.  They  applied  themselves  with  steady  industry  to 
the  cultivation  of  indigo  and  silk ;  and  they  prospered. 

The  fame  of  Oglethorpe's  enterprise  spread  over  Europe.  All  struggling 
men,  against  whom  the  battle  of  life  went  hard,  looked  to  Georgia  as  a  land 
of  promise.  They  were  the  men  who  most  urgently  required  to  emigrate; 
but  they  were  not  always  the  men  best  fitted  to  conquer  the  difficulties  of  the 
immigrant's  life.  The  progress  of  the  colony  was  slow.  The  poor  persons 
of  whom  it  was  originally  composed  were  honest  but  ineffective,  and  could 
not  in  Georgia  more  than  in  England  find  out  the  way  to  become  self-support- 
ing. Encouragements  were  given  which  drew  from  Germany,  from  Switzer- 
land, and  from  the  Highlands  of  Scodand,  men  of  firmer  texture  of  mind — 
better  fitted  to  subdue  the  wilderness  and  bring  forth  its  treasures. 


208  THE  GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Up  to  the  year  1764  the  Americans  cherished  a  deep  reverence  and  affec- 
tion for  the  mother  country.  They  were  proud  of  her  great  place  among  the 
nations.  They  gloried  in  the  splendor  of  her  military  achievements ;  they 
copied  her  manners  and  her  fashions.  She  was  in  all  things  their  model. 
They  always  spoke  of  England  as  "  home."  To  be  an  Old  England  man  was 
to  be  a  person  of  rank  and  importance  among  them.  They  yielded  a  loving 
obedience  to  her  laws.  They  were  governed,  as  Benjamin  Franklin  stated  it, 
at  the  expense  of  a  little  pen  and  ink.  When  money  was  asked  from  their 
assemblies,  it  was  given  without  grudge.  "They  were  led  by  a  thread" — 
such  was  their  love  for  the  land  which  gave  them  birth. 

Ten  or  twelve  years  came  and  went.  A  marvellous  change  has  passed 
upon  the  temper  of  the  American  people.  They  have  bound  themselves  by 
great  oaths  to  use  no  article  of  English  manufacture — to  engage  in  no  trans- 
action which  can  put  a  shilling  into  any  English  pocket.  They  have  formed 
"the  inconvenient  habit  of  carting" — that  is,  of  tarring  and  feathering  and 
dragging  through  the  streets  such  persons  as  avow  friendship  for  the  English 
government.  They  burn  the  acts  of  the  English  Parliament  by  the  hands  of 
the  common  hangman.  They  slay  the  king's  soldiers.  They  refuse  every 
amicable  proposal.  They  cast  from  them  forever  the  king's  authority.  They 
hand  down  a  dislike  to  the  English  name,  of  which  some  traces  lingered 
among  them  for  generations. 

By  what  unhallowed  magic  has  this  change  been  wrought  so  swiftly?  By 
what  process,  in  so  few  years,  have  3,000,000  people  been  taught  to  abhor  the 
country  they  so  loved? 

The  ignorance  and  folly  of  the  English  government  wrought  this  evil. 

For  many  years  England  had  governed  her  American  colonies  harshly, 
and  in  a  spirit  of  undisguised  selfishness.  America  was  ruled,  not  for  her 
own  good,  but  for  the  good  of  English  commerce.  She  was  not  allowed  to 
export  her  products  except  to  England.  No  foreign  ship  might  enter  her 
ports.  Woollen  goods  were  not  allowed  to  be  sent  from  one  colony  to  an- 
other. At  one  time  the  manufacture  of  hats  was  forbidden.  In  a  liberal 
mood  Parliament  removed  that  prohibition,  but  decreed  that  no  maker  of  hats 
should  employ  any  negro  workman,  or  any  larger  number  of  apprentices  than 
two.  Iron-works  were  forbidden.  Up  to  the  latest  hour  of  English  rule  the 
Bible  was  not  allowed  to  be  printed  in  America. 

In  1765,  the  famous  "  Stamp  Act"  was  made  a  law.  All  legal  documents 
were  to  bear  a  government  stamp,  costing  from  three-pence  to  thirty  dollars, 
according  to  the  importance  of  the  transaction.  Every  newspaper  and 
pamphlet  must  be  stamped,  and  every  advertisement  must  pay  a  tax.  The 
Americans  remonstrated. 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  209 

Benjamin  Franklin  told  the  House  of  Commons  that  America  would  never 
submit  to  the  Stamp  Act,  and  that  no  power  on  earth  could  enforce  it.  The 
Americans  made  it  impossible  for  government  to  mistake  their  sentiments. 
Riots,  which  swelled  from  day  to  day  into  dimensions  more  "  enormous  and 
alarming,"  burst  forth  in  the  New  England  States.  Everywhere  the  stamp 
distributors  were  compelled  to  resign  their  offices.  One  unfortunate  man  was 
led  forth  to  Boston  Common,  and  made  to  sign  his  resignation  in  presence 
of  a  vast  crowd.  Another,  in  desperate  health,  was  visited  in  his  sick-room 
and  obliged  to  pledge  that  if  he  lived  he  would  resign.  A  universal  resolu- 
tion was  come  to  that  no  English  goods  would  be  imported  till  the  Stamp 
Act  was  repealed.  The  colonists  would  "  eat  nothing,  drink  nothinor,  wear 
nothing  that  comes  from  England  "  while  this  great  injustice  endured.  The 
act  was  to  come  into  force  on  the  ist  of  November.  That  day  the  bells  runo- 
out  funereal  peals,  and  the  colonists  wore  the  aspect  of  men  on  whom  some 
heavy  calamity  had  fallen.  But  the  act  never  came  into  force.  Not  one  of 
Lord  Grenville's  stamps  was  ever  bought  or  sold  in  America.  Some  of  the 
stamped  paper  was  burnt  by  the  mob ;  the  rest  was  hidden  away  to  save  it 
from  the  same  fate.  Without  stamps,  marriages  were  null ;  mercantile  trans- 
actions ceased  to  be  binding ;  suits  at  law  were  impossible.  Nevertheless, 
the  business  of  human  life  went  on.  Men  married  ;  they  bought,  they  sold  ; 
they  went  to  law — illegally,  because  without  stamps.     But  no  harm  came  of  it. 

England  heard  with  amazement  that  America  refused  to  obey  the  law. 
There  were  some  who  demanded  that  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  enforced  by 
the  sword.  But  it  greatly  moved  the  English  merchants  that  America  should 
cease  to  import  their  goods.  William  Pitt — not  yet  Earl  of  Chatham — de- 
nounced the  act,  and  said  he  was  glad  America  had  resisted.  Pitt  and  the 
merchants  triumphed,  and  the  act  was  repealed. 

The  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  delayed  only  for  a  little  the  fast-coming 
crisis.  A  new  ministry  was  formed,  with  the  Earl  of  Chatham  at  its  head. 
But  soon  the  great  earl  lay  sick  and  helpless,  and  the  burden  of  government 
rested  on  incapable  shoulders.  Charles  Townshend,  a  clever,  captivating,  but 
most  indiscreet  man,  became  the  virtual  prime  minister.  The  feeling  in  the 
public  mind  had  now  become  more  unfavorable  to  America.  Townshend 
proposed  to  levy  a  variety  of  taxes  from  the  Americans.  The  most  famous 
of  his  taxes  was  one  of  three-pence  per  pound  on  tea.  All  his  proposals  be- 
came law.     Several  ships  were  freighted  with  tea,  and  sent  out  to  America. 

Cheaper  tea  was  never  seen  in  America ;  but  it  bore  upon  it  the  abhorred 
tax  which  asserted  British  control  over  the  property  of  Americans.  Will  the 
Americans,  long  bereaved  of  the  accustomed  beverage,  yield  to  the  tempta- 
tion, and  barter  their  honor  for  cheap  tea  ?  The  East  India  Company  never 
doubted  it ;  but  the  company  knew  nothing  of  the  temper  of  the  American 
people.  The  ships  arrived  at  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  These  cities 
14 


210  TIIK   (;()L1)KN   TREASURY. 

Stood  firm.     The  ships  were  promptly  sent  home — their  hatches  unopened — 
and  duly  bore  their  rejected  cargoes  back  to  the  Thames. 

When  the  ships  destined  for  Boston  showed  their  tall  masts  in  the  bay, 
the  citizens  ran  together  to  hold  council.  It  was  Sabbath,  and  the  men  of 
Boston  were  strict.  But  here  was  an  exigency,  in  presence  of  which  all  or- 
dinary rules  are  suspended.  The  crisis  has  come  at  length.  If  that  tea  is 
landed  it  will  be  sold,  it  will  be  used,  and  American  liberty  will  become  a  by- 
word upon  the  earth, 

Samuel  Adams  was  the  true  king  in  Boston  at  that  time.  He  was  a  man 
in  middle  life,  of  cultivated  mind  and  stainless  reputation — a  powerful  speaker 
and  writer — a  man  in  whose  sagacity  and  moderation  all  men  trusted.  He 
resembled  the  old  Puritans  in  his  stern  love  of  liberty,  his  reverence  for  the 
Sabbath,  his  sincere,  if  somewhat  formal,  observance  of  all  religious  ordi- 
nances. He  was  among  the  first  to  see  that  there  was  no  resting-place  in 
this  struCTcrJe  short  of  independence.  "We  are  free,"  he  said,  "and  want  no 
king."  The  men  of  Boston  felt  the  power  of  his  resolute  spirit,  and  man- 
fully followed  where  Samuel  Adams  led. 

It  was  hoped  that  the  agents  of  the  East  India  Company  would  have  con- 
sented to  send  the  ships  home  ;  but  the  agents  refused.  Several  days  of  ex- 
citement and  ineffectual  negotiation  ensued.  People  flocked  in  from  the 
neighboring  towns.  The  time  was  spent  mainly  in  public  meetings ;  the  city 
resounded  with  impassioned  discourse.  But  meanwhile  the  ships  lay  peace- 
fully at  their  moorings,  and  the  tide  of  patriot  talk  seemed  to  flow  in  vain. 
Other  measures  were  visibly  necessary.  One  day  a  meeting  was  held,  and 
the  excited  people  continued  in  hot  debate  till  the  shades  of  evening  fell.  No 
progress  was  made.  At  length  Samuel  Adams  stood  up  in  the  dimly  lighted 
church,  and  announced,  "This  meeting  can  do  nothing  more  to  save  the  coun- 
try." With  a  stern  shout  the  meeting  broke  up.  Fifty  men  disguised  as  In- 
dians hurried  down  to  the  wharf,  each  man  with  a  hatchet  in  his  hand.  The 
crowd  followed.  The  ships  were  boarded  ;  the  chests  of  tea  were  brought  on 
deck,  broken  open  and  flung  into  the  bay.  The  approving  citizens  looked  on 
in  silence.  It  was  felt  by  all  that  the  step  was  grave  and  eventful  in  the  high- 
est degree.  So  still  was  the  crowd  that  no  sound  was  heard  but  the  stroke 
of  the  hatchet  and  the  splash  of  the  shattered  chests  as  they  fell  into  the  sea. 
All  questions  about  the  disposal  of  those  cargoes  of  tea,  at  all  events,  are  now  ij| 
solved. 

This  is  what  America  has  done  ;  it  is  for  England  to  make  the  next  move." 
Lord  North  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  British  o-overnment.  It  was  his  lord- 
ship's  belief  that  the  troubles  in  America  sprung  from  a  small  number  of  am- 
bitious persons,  and  could  easily,  by  proper  firmness,  be  suppressed.  "  The 
Americans  will  be  lions  while  we  are  lambs,"  said  General  Gage.  The  king 
believed  this,  and  Lord  North  believed  it.     In  this  deep  ignorance  he  pro- 


THE    UNIIEn    STATES. 


211 


ceeded  to  deal  with  the  great  emergency.  He  closed  Boston  as  a  port  for  the 
landing  and  shipping  of  goods.  He  imposed  a  fine  to  indemnify  the  East 
India  Company  for  their  lost  teas.  He  withdrew  the  charter  of  Massachu- 
setts. He  authorized  the  governor  to  send  political  offenders  to  England  for 
trial.  Great  voices  were  raised  against  these  severities.  Lord  Chatham,  old 
in  constitution  now,  if  not  in  years,  and  near  the  close  of  his  career,  pleaded 
for  measures  of  conciliation.  Edmund  Burke  justified  the  resistance  of  the 
Americans.  Their  opposition  was  fruitless.  All  Lord  North's  measures  of 
repression  became  law;  and  General  Gage,  with  an  additional  force  of  soldiers, 
was  sent  to  Boston  to  carry  them  into  effect. 

In  September,  1774,  the  first  Continental  Congress  met  at  Philadelphia. 
Fifty-three  of  the  best  and  ablest  men  in  the  country  were  there  ;  men  deeply- 
versed  in  Eng-lish  law,  and  who 


knew  well  that  king  and  Par- 
liament were  violating  the  con- 
stitution which  they  were  sworn 
to  maintain.  Awed  by  a  feeling 
of  the  tremendous  results  which 
depended  upon  their  conduct,  a 
long  and  deep  silence  fell  on  all 
the  members  of  the  assembly. 
It  was  broken  by  Patrick  Henry, 
of  Virg-inia — the  greatest  orator 
of  his  day,  and  perhaps  the  great- 
est that  America  has  yet  produced 
— who  recited  the  wrongs  of  the 
colonies  with  magnificent  elo- 
quence, and  yet  with  strict  ad- 
herence to  the  truth.  Patrick 
Henry  was  born  in  the  year  1736, 
and  died  in  1 799. 

He  was  a  man  of  limited  edu- 
cation and  in  early  years  displayed 
few  indications  of  his  future  great- 
ness.  He  was  exceedingly  fond 
of  fishing  and  hunting,  and  of  so- 
cial pleasures,  all  of  which  were 
allowed  to  interfere  with  his  duties.  He  married  at  eighteen,  failed  twice  in 
business,  once  in  an  attempt  at  farming,  and  finally,  when  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  entered  the  profession  of  law  after  six  weeks'  study  of  the  subject. 

Henrj'  was  a  man  of  high  moral  courage,  and  the  instinctive  champion  of 
the  wronged  and  the  oppressed.     The  opening  scenes  of  the  Revolution  fired 


212 


THE   GOI.UEN    TKKASUKY. 


his  patriotic  soul ;  evidently  the  time  and  purpose  for  which  he  had  been  born 
had  arrived.  His  speech  before  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  electrified 
the  country,  and  gained  him  the  reputation,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  of  being 
"  the  greatest  orator  and  political  thinker  of  a  land  abounding  with  public 
speakers  and  statesmen."  From  this  time  forth  he  was  prominent  in  the 
political  conventions  and  congresses  of  the  colonies,  and,  in  1776,  he  was  elec- 
ted the  first  republican  governor  of  the  State  of  Virginia.  He  held  this  office 
until  1779,  when,  being  no  longer  eligible,  he  returned  to  the  legislature.  At 
the  close  of  the  war  he  was  again  chosen  governor,  and  served  until  1786, 
when  he  resio^ned.  In  1 794,  he  retired  from  the  law,  and  removed  to  his  estate. 
After  this  he  declined  several  honorable  positions  in  public  life,  but  was  finally 
persuaded  by  Washington  and  others  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Virginia 


LEXINGTON. 


senate,  in  1799,10  order  to  oppose  certain  measures  there.  He  was  easily 
elected,  but  death  interposed  before  he  could  take  his  seat. 

The  colonists  endeavored  by  every  peaceable  means  in  their  power  to  have 
their  wrongs  redressed ;  but  as  Britain  showed  no  signs  of  relenting  in  her 
treatment  of  them,  they  then  settled  down  to  the  conviction  that  they  must 
either  fight  for  their  liberty,  or  forego  it.  They  at  once  prepared  themselves 
for  the  contest. 

General  Gage  had  learned  that  considerable  stores  of  ammunition  were 
collected  .at  the  village  of  Concord,  eighteen  miles  from  Boston.  He  would 
seize  them  in  the  king's  name.  Late  one  April  night  800  soldiers  set  out  on 
this  errand.  In  the  early  morning  they  reached  Lexington  where  a  body  of 
militia  awaited  them.     The  patriot  volunteers  were  ordered  to  disperse,  there 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  213 

being  only  about  seventy  of  them  altogether.  Firing  ensued,  by  whom  first  is 
not  known  ;  but  eighteen  of  the  seventy  lay  dead  or  wounded  on  the  village 
green,  whilst  the  rest  fled.  The  British  pushed  on  to  Concord,  and  destroyed 
all  the  military  stores  they  could  find.  Their  march  homeward  was  mainly  on 
a  road  cut  through  dense  woods.  The  people  of  the  surrounding  country  had 
been  gathering  in  the  meanwhile,  and  now  hung  upon  their  flanks  and  rear. 
From  the  woods  throughout  the  whole  line  of  that  return  march  came  shot 
thick  and  heavy.  It  was  sunset  ere  the  soldiers,  half  dead  with  fatigue,  got 
home  to  Boston.  This  fatal  e.xpedition  had  cost  them  nearly  three  hundred 
men.     The  blood  shed  at  Lexington  had  been  swiftly  and  deeply  avenged. 

The  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  followed  soon  after.  Two  thousand  British 
soldiers  charged  up  the  hill  against  the  American  intrenchments,  which  they 
carried,  after  having  been  twice  repulsed,  but  with  a  loss  of  nearly  eleven  hun- 
dred men,  whilst  the  American  loss  was  less  than  five  hundred. 

The  time  was  now  ripe  for  the  consideration  by  Congress  of  the  great 
question  of  independence.  It  was  a  grave  and  most  eventful  step,  but  it  could 
no  longer  be  shunned.  On  the  7th  of  June,  1776,3  resolution  was  introduced 
declarinor  "  That  the  United  Colonies  are  and  outrht  to  be  free  and  inde- 
pendent ;  "  and  on  the  4th  of  July  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
adopted,  with  the  unanimous  concurrence  of  all  the  States. 

Our  illustrious  poet  Bryant  vividly  depicts  the  spirit  which  animated  the 
patriots  at  this  time,  in  his  poem  entitled,  "  Seventy-Six." 

"  What  heroes  from  the  woodland  sprung. 

When  through  the  fresh-awakened  land, 
The  thrilling  cry  of  freedom  rung 
And  to  the  work  of  warfare  strung 

The  yeoman's  iron  hand  ! 

"  Hills  flung  the  cry  to  hills  around, 
And  ocean-mart  replied  to  mart. 
And  streams,  whose  springs  were  yet  unfound, 
Pealed  far  away  the  startling  sound 
Into  the  forest's  heart. 

"  Then  marched  the  brave  from  rocky  steep, 

From  mountain-river  swift  and  cold  ; 
The  borders  of  the  stormy  deep. 
The  vales  where  gathered  waters  sleep, 

Sent  up  the  strong  and  bold ; 

"  As  if  the  very  earth  again 

Grew  quick  with  God's  creating  breath, 
And,  from  the  sods  of  grove  and  glen, 
Rose  ranks  of  lion-hearted  men 

To  battle  to  the  death. 


214  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

"  The  wife  whose  babe  first  smiled  that  day, 
The  fair  fond  bride  of  yester-eve, 
And  aged  sire  and  matron  gra}% 
Saw  the  loved  warriors  haste  away, 
And  deemed  it  sin  to  <jrieve. 

"Already  had  the  strife  begun ; 
f  Already  blood  on  Concord's  plain. 

Along  the  springing  grass  had  run, 
And  blood  had  flowed  at  Lexington, 
Like  brooks  of  April  rain. 

"That  death-stain  on  the  vernal  sward 
\  Hallowed  to  freedom  all  the  shore  ; 

In  fragments  fell  the  yoke  abhorred — 
The  footsteps  of  a  foreign  lord 
Profaned  the  soil  no  more." 

For  some  time  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  English  were 
generally  victorious  in  the  conflicts  of  the  revolution.  But  in  the  winter  fol- 
lowing, the  tide  of  victory  turned  in  favor  of  Washington  and  his  compatriots. 
On  the  day  after  Christmas  he  gained  the  batde  of  Trenton  ;  and  on  the  3d 
of  January,  1777,  he  defeated  the  British  at  Princeton. 

In  the  month  of  June,  a  British  army  set  out  from  Canada  to  conquer  the 
northern  parts  of  the  revolted  territory.  General  Burgoyne  was  in  command. 
In  July  he  reached  Ticonderoga,  which  he  captured  without  difficulty.  Being 
in  want  of  provisions,  Burgoyne  sent  Colonel  Baum,  with  500  men,  to  seize  a 
quantity  of  stores  which  the  Americans  had  collected  at  Bennington.  They 
were  met  by  Colonel  John  Stark,  at  the  head  of  the  New  Hampshire  militia, 
and  totally  defeated.  The  British  loss  was  about  800  ;  that  of  the  Americans 
fifty- four.  Stark's  speech  to  his  men  before  the  battle  is  said  to  have  been  : 
"  There  they  are,  boys ;  we  must  beat  them  to-day,  or  this  night  Molly  Stark's 
a  widow."  The  record  of  this  remarkable  victory  inspired  the  muse  of  Bryant, 
who  thereupon  produced  a  poem  which  cannot  be  too  widely  known. 

"  The  B.jvttle  of  Bennington. 

"  On  this  fair  valley's  grassy  breast  ! 

,  The  calm,  sweet  rays  of  summer  rest. 

And  dove-like  peace  divinely  broods 
On  its  smooth  lawns  and  solemn  woods. 

"  A  century  since,  in  flame  and  smoke, 
The  storm  of  battle  o'er  it  broke ; 
And  ere  the  invader  turned  and  fled. 
These  pleasant  fields  were  strown  with  dead. 


(215) 


I 


216  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

"  Stark,  quick  to  act  and  bold  to  dare, 
And  Warner's  mountain  band,  were  there; 
And  Allen,  who  had  flung  the  pen 
Aside  to  lead  the  Berkshire  men. 

"  With  fiery  onset — blow  on  blow — 
They  rushed  upon  the  embattled  foe, 
And  swept  his  squadrons  from  the  vale, 
Like  leaves  before  the  autumn  gale. 

■  "  Oh  !  never  may  the  purple  stain 

Of  combat  blot  these  fields  again, 
Nor  this  fair  valley  ever  cease 
To  wear  the  placid  smile  of  peace.  V 

i 

"  But  we,  beside  this  battle-field,  ^ 

Will  plight  the  vow  that  ere  we  yield 
The  right  for  which  our  fathers  bled, 
Our  blood  shall  steep  the  ground  we  tread. 

"And  men  shall  hold  the  memory  dear 
Of  those  who  fought  for  freedom  here. 
And  guard  the  heritage  they  won 
While  these  green  hillsides  feel  the  sun." 

This  defeat  was  the  forerunner  of  still  greater  disasters  to  Burgoyne.  In 
his  march  southward  he  found  himself  at  Saratoga  destitute  of  provisions, 
and  surrounded  by  the  enemy.  Night  and  day  a  circle  of  fire  encompassed 
them.  There  was  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  it  was  done.  The  British  army 
surrendered.  Nearly  six  thousand  men,  in  sorrow  and  in  shame,  laid  down 
their  arms. 

The  summer  of  1 788  was  signahzed  by  a  terrible  massacre  of  old  men, 
women  and  children  in  the  valley  of  Wyoming,  on  the  Susquehanna,  by  a 
combined  force  of  British  and  Seneca  Indians.  All  the  strong  men  were  ab- 
sent in  the  army,  while  their  wives  tilled  the  fields.  Tlie  forts  in  which  they 
had  found  refuge  on  the  enemy's  approach,  were  taken  and  burnt.  Three 
hundred  old  men  and  boys  fought  valiantly  until  they  were  surrounded  and 
slain.  The  British  leaders  could  not,  if  they  would,  restrain  their  savage 
allies;  every  dwelling  was  burnt,  and  the  beautiful  valley  became  a  solitude. 

The  surrender  of  Burgoyne  brought  an  important  ally  to  the  American 
side ;  France  offered  to  come  to  her  aid.  A  treaty  was  signed  by  which 
France  and  America  engaged  to  make  common  cause  against  England.  Soon 
afterwards  Spain  joined  France  and  America  in  the  league,  and  declared 
war  against  England. 

The  fleets  of  France  and  Spain  appeared  in  the  English  Channel,  and 
England  had  to  face  the  perils  of  an  invasion.     But  the  black  cloud  passed 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


217 


harmlessly  away.  The  invading  admirals  quarrelled.  One  of  them  wished 
to  land  at  once ;  the  other  wished  first  to  dispose  of  the  English  fleet.  They 
could  not  agree  upon  a  course,  and  therefore  they  sailed  away  home,  each  to 
his  own  country,  having  effected  nothing. 

During  the  later  years  of  the  war  the  English  kept  possession  of  the 
Southern  States.  When  the  last  campaign  opened.  Lord  Cornwallis,  with  a 
strong  force,  represented  British  authority  in  the  South,  and  did  all  that  he 
found  possible  for  the  suppression  of  the  patriots.  He  marched  into  Virginia 
and  took  post  at  Yorktown. 


ON    THE   WAR-PATH 


One  event  of  some  interest,  although  of  little  importance  in  its  results, 
should  not  be  passed  over  here.     We  allude  to  the  treason  of  Arnold. 

This  man,  a  general  in  the  American  army,  having  obtained  the  command 
of  the  fortress  of  West  Point,  on  the  Hudson,  privately  engaged  to  deliver 
it  up  to  the  British  General  Clinton,  for  the  sum  of  /i 0,000  sterling,  and  a 
commission  as  brigadier-general  in  the  British  army. 

By  the  fortunate  arrest  of  a  Major  Andre,  whom  Clinton  had  sent  to  con- 
fer with  Arnold,  the  project  was  defeated.  Andre  was  hung  as  a  spy,  while 
Arnold  fled  to  the  British  camp,  where  he  received  the  stipulated  reward  of 


218  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

his  treason.  But  even  the  British  themselves  scorned  the  traitor,  and  the 
world  now  execrates  his  name  and  memory. 

About  midsummer  (1781),  the  joyous  news  reached  Washington  that  a 
powerful  French  fleet,  with  an  army  on  board,  was  about  to  sail  for  America. 
With  this  reinforcement,  Washington  had  it  in  his  power  to  deliver  a  blow 
which  would  break  the  strength  of  the  enemy  and  hasten  the  close  of  the 
war.  The  French  fleet  sailed  for  the  Chesapeake,  and  Washington  decided 
in  consequence  that  his  attack  should  be  made  on  Lord  Cornwallis.  With  all 
possible  secrecy  and  speed  the  American  troops  were  moved  southward  to 
Virginia.  They  were  joined  by  the  French,  and  they  stood  before  Yorktown 
a  force  1 2,000  strong. 

The  siege  of  Yorktown  was  pushed  on  with  extraordinary  vehemence. 
The  English  made  a  stout  defence,  and  strove  by  desperate  sallies  to  drive  the 
assailants  from  their  works.  But  in  a  few  days  the  defences  of  Yorktown 
lay  in  utter  ruin,  beaten  to  the  ground  by  the  powerful  artillery  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. The  English  guns  were  silenced  ;  the  English  shipping  was  fired  by 
red-hot  shot  from  the  French  batteries.  Ammunition  began  to  grow  scarce. 
The  place  could  not  be  held  much  longer.  Lord  Cornwallis  must  either 
force  his  way  out  and  escape  to  the  North,  or  surrender.  One  night  he  be- 
gan to  embark  his  men  in  order  to  cross  the  York  river  and  set  out  on  his 
desperate  march  to  New  York;  but  a  violent  storm  arose  and  scattered  his 
boats.  The  men  who  had  embarked  got  back  with  difficulty,  under  fire  from 
the  American  batterie.s.  All  hope  was  now  at  an  end.  In  about  a  fortnight 
from  the  opening  of  the  siege,  the  British  army,  8,000  strong,  laid  down  its 
arms. 

The  final  treaty  of  peace  between  the  British  and  Americans  was  made  in 
1783.  Great  Britain  acknowledged  the  United  States  to  be  free  and  inde- 
pendent, with  Canada  as  a  boundary  on  the  north,  the  Mississippi  river  on 
the  west,  and  Florida,  extending  west  to  the  Mississippi,  on  the  south. 

Having  now  arrived  at  our  beginning  as  a  nation,  we  may  well  pause  to 
take  a  glance  at  the  most  prominent  characters  to  whom  our  country  is  so 
greatly  indebted  for  its  independent  existence.  There  are,  indeed,  many 
names  worthy  of  all  remembrance,  which  the  space  at  our  command  will 
hardly  allow  us  even  to  mention.  Still  the  reader  is  aware  that  our  purpose 
is  not  to  enter  into  the  minute  details  of  historical  fact,  for  there  are  innumer- 
able works  which  are  devoted  to  that  object  alone.  Our  purpose  is  to  give  a 
running  summary  of  the  political,  social,  artistic,  literary,  and  scientific  prog- 
ress of  our  country — to  show  how  it  came  to  be  an  independent  nation,  and 
what  it  has  achieved  since  then.     And  as 

"  The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man," 
brief  sketches  of  our  most  prominent  men  in  any  branch  of  human  industry 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


219 


will  be  given,  as  well  as  of  those  upon  whom  the  nation  has  bestowed  the 
gift  of  its  highest  office.  The  mind  of  the  reader  will  thus  not  be  confined 
to  one  narrow  view  of  what  is  involved  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

George  Washington  naturally  comes  first  in  our  record  of  great  names. 
He  was  born  February  22d,  1732,  and  died  December  14th,  1799.  George's 
father  died  when  he  was  eleven  years  old,  so  that  his  training  devolved  upon 
his  mother,  who  was  a  woman  of  very  noble  character ;  and,  as  events  proved, 
fully  equal  to  the  task. 

Washington  was  a  good  math- 
ematician, and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  had  thoroughly  fitted 
himself  as  a  practical  surveyor. 
One  of  Washington's  early 
friends  was  Lord  Fairfax,  an  ec- 
centric Englishman,  who  owned 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


an  immense  estate  in  Virofinia. 
He  employed  Washington  to 
survey  this  land ;  and  while  en- 
gaged in  this  work,  cut  off  from 
civilization  and  compelled  to 
undergo  numerous  hardships,  he 
learned  many  lessons  that  after- 
.  ward  proved  useful  to  him. 

When  Governor  Dinwiddle  arrived  in  Virginia  he  appointed  Washington, 
with  the  rank  of  major,  over  one  of  the  four  military  districts  into  which  he 
divided  the  colony.  It  was  at  this  time,  and  when  only  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  that  Washington  was  despatched  on  his  mission  to  Venango.  The  sound- 
ness of  his  judgment  was  shown  on  that  expedition,  and  disregard  of  his  ad- 
vice was  followed  by  disaster  to  Braddock's  expedition. 

When  called  upon  to  take  command  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  he 
replied  with  his  usual  modesty :  "  Though  I  am  truly  sensible  of  the  high  honor 
done  me  in  this  appointment,  yet  I  feel  great  distress  from  a  consciousness  that 
my  abilities  and  military  experience  may  not  be  equal  to  the  extensive  and  im- 
portant trust."  His  generosity  and  devoted  patriotism  are  also  shown  in 
another  passage  of  this  same  reply:  "As  to  pay,  sir,  I  beg  leave  to  assure 
Congress  that  as  no  pecuniary  consideration  could  have  tempted  me  to  accept 
the  arduous  employment  at  the  expense  of  my  domestic  ease  and  happiness, 
I  do  not  wish  to  make  any  profit  from  it.  I  will  keep  an  exact  account  of  my 
expenses.  Those,  I  doubt  not,  they  will  discharge,  and  that  is  all  I  desire." 
At  this  time  Washington  was  forty-three  years  old.  He  had  married  Mrs. 
Martha  Custis,  a  wealthy  young  widow,  in  1759,  and  being  heir  himself  to 
large  estates,  he  had  devoted  himself  to  agriculture. 


220 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


In  appearance  Washington  was  of  commanding  presence.  He  was  six 
feet  and  two  inches  tall,  broad-shouldered  and  muscular.  His  face  was  un- 
usually calm  and  dignified  in  expression,  and  his  manner  was  formal.  In 
private,  however,  he  was  gracious,  and  even  genial,  especially  with  the  young. 

While  taking  his  usual  ride  over  the. plantation,  during  the  morning  of  the 
1 2th  of  December,  1790,  he  was  caught  in  a  cold  storm  of  rain  and  sleet. 
Returning  home,  after  two  or  three  hours'  exposure  to  this  weather,  he  sat 
down  to  dine  without  changing  his  clothes.  The  second  day  following  he  was 
attacked  with  "acute  laryngitis,"  a  disease  of  the  throat  not  then  understood, 


MT.   VERNON. 


and  died  within  twenty-four  hours.  Europe  vied  with  America  in  mourning 
his  loss  and  eulogizing  his  name.  General  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Congress,  pronounced  his  funeral  oration,  using  the  memorable 
words,  "First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 
Bryant  thus  writes  of  the  2  2d  of  February: 


"  Pale  is  the  February  sky, 

And  brief  the  mid-day's  sunny  hours; 
The  wind-swept  forest  seems  to  sigh 

For  the  sweet  time  of  leaves  and  flowers. 


i 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  221 

"  Yet  has  no  month  a  prouder  day, 

Not  even  when  the  summer  broods 
O'er  meadows  in  their  fresh  array, 
Or  autumn  tints  the  glowing  woods. 

"  For  this  chill  season  now  again 

Brings  in  its  annual  round  the  morn 
When,  greatest  of  the  sons  of  men, 
Our  glorious  Washington  was  born." 

LITERATURE    AND    GENERAL   PROGRESS    IN    THE    COLONIAL 

PERIOD. 

It  may  be  believed  that  the  first  settlers  in  America  found  enough  to  do  in 
subduing  the  wilderness  and  devising  the  laws  under  which  their  children 
were  to  live,  without  writing  books.  But  so  anxious  were  they  to  be  remem- 
bered and  understood  in  England,  and  to  be  reinforced  by  new  parties  of  emi- 
grants ;  so  full  of  wonder  and  delight  in  the  new  world  that  was  thrown  open 
to  them,  and  so  desirous  that  their  children  should  not  lack  the  advantages 
that  they  would  have  enjoyed  at  home,  that  a  mass  of  literature  does  in  fact 
date  from  the  very  earliest  years  of  the  colonies. 

The  first  book  written  in  America  was  Captain  John  Smith's  "  True  Re- 
lation of  Virginia,"  which  he  sent  home  in  1608.  A  few  months  later  he  des- 
patched the  London  Company  a  report  of  the  Jamestown  colony,  with  a  map 
of  the  Chesapeake  bay  and  its  tributary  rivers,  and  a  very  lively  description 
of  the  surrounding  country. 

Besides  many  other  descriptive  works,  Virginia  made  one  contribution  to 
elegant  letters;  for  George  Sandys,  treasurer  of  the  colony,  a.  d.  i 621-1625, 
beguiled  the  loneliness  of  his  absence  from  polished  society  and  the  horror 
attending  the  Indian  massacre  by  translating  Ovid  into  English  verse.  Not 
only  in  description  and  poetry,  however,  did  the  colonial  authors  prove  their 
ability,  but  in  philosophy  and  science  as  well. 

Among  the  writers  of  the  later  colonial  period  the  greatest,  perhaps,  was 
Jonathan  Edwards  (born  1703,  died  1758),  whose  "  Essay  on  the  Freedom  of 
the  Will "  revealed  to  the  world  the  most  acute  and  original  mind  which 
America  has  produced.  It  was  written  at  the  litde  village  of  Stockbridge, 
Massachusetts,  when  he  was  a  missionary  to  the  Indians.  But  the  mind  which 
most  perfecdy  represented  and  most  strongly  influenced  the  character  of 
American  institutions  was  that  of  Benjamin  Franklin  (born  1706,  died  1790)^ 
the  printer-boy  of  Boston,  the  self-taught  sage  of  Philadelphia,  the  represen- 
tative of  the  colonies  at  London,  the  ambassador  of  the  United  States  at  Paris, 
whose  plain,  good  sense,  genial  humor,  and  honest  self-respect  made  him  the 
favorite  of  all  ranks  and  classes.  His  writings  fill  ten  octavo  volumes.  A 
great  statesman  spoke  of  him  as  being  the  greatest  diplomatist  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century. 


222  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Amono-  his  great  services  to  his  country  was  his  organization  of  its  postal 
service  as  early  as  1754.  "Every  penny  stamp  is  a  monument  to  FrankHn." 
His  simple  experiment  with  the  kite,  proving  lightning  and  thunder  to  be 
caused  by  electric  currents,  and  his  subsequent  invention  of  the  lightning-rod, 
gave  him  a  high  place  among  scientific  men. 

From  the  beginning  the  colonies  contained  many  noted  students  of  nat- 
ural science.  The  soils,  minerals,  plants  and  animals  of  the  new  continent 
were  all  objects  of  keen  research.  Linnaeus,  the  noted  Swedish  naturalist, 
declared  John  Bartram,  the  Quaker  gardener  of  Philadelphia,  to  be  the 
"crreatest  natural  botanist  in  the  world."  Virginia  and  the  more  southerly 
colonies  had  several  botanists  of  European  fame.  But  the  scientific  reputa- 
tion of  America  was  established  when  Franklin,  in  1 744,  drew  about  him 
other  gendemen  of  kindred  tastes  and  formed  the  American  Philosophical 
Society.  It  was  an  important  bond  of  union  among  the  best  men  in  all  the 
colonies. 

THE   THIRTEEN    STATES    BECOME   A    NATION.  | 

Washington  saw  from  the  beginning  that  his  country  was  without  a  govern- 
ment. Concrress  was  a  mere  name.  There  were  still  thirteen  sovereign 
States — in  league  for  the  moment,  but  liable  to  be  placed  at  variance  by  the 
differences  which  time  would  surely  bring.  Washington  was  satisfied  that 
without  a  central  government  they  could  never  be  powerful  or  respected. 
Such  a  government,  indeed,  was  necessary  in  order  even  to  their  existence. 
European  powers  would,  in  its  absence,  introduce  dissension  among  them. 
Men's  minds  would  revert  to  that  form  of  government  with  which  they  were 
familiar.  Some  ambitious  statesman  or  soldier  would  make  himself  king,  and 
the  great  experiment,  based  upon  the  equality  of  rights,  would  prove  an  igno- 
minious failure. 

Hamilton  proposed  that  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  several  States 
should  be  held,  in  order  to  decide  upon  a  form  of  government.  The  conven- 
tion met  at  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787.  Fifty-five  men  composed  this  mem- 
orable council.  Among  them  were  the  wisest  men  of  whom  America,  or  per- 
haps any  other  country,  could  boast.  Washington  himself  presided.  Benjamin 
Franklin  brought  to  this — his  latest  and  his  greatest  task — the  ripe  experience 
of  eighty-two  years.  New  York  sent  Hamilton — regarding  whom  Prince 
Talleyrand  said,  long  afterward,  that  he  had  known  nearly  all  the  leading  men 
of  his  time,  but  he  had  never  known  one,  on  the  whole,  equal  to  Hamilton. 
With  these  came  many  others  whose  names  are  held  in  enduring  honor. 
Since  the  meeting  of  that  first  Congress,  which  pointed  the  way  to  inde- 
pendence, America  had  seen  no  such  assembly. 

Alexander  Hamilton  (born  1757,  died  1804),  born  in  the  West  Indies,  was 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  characters  of  the  Revolution.     His  mother  died 


THE  UNITED  STATES.  223 

when  he  was  a  child,  and  his  father  being  in  destitute  circumstances  Hamilton 
was  taken  charge  of  by  his  mother's  relatives.  They  placed  him  in  a  com- 
mercial house  when  twelve  years  of  age,  and,  although  the  life  was  ver\-  dis- 
tasteful to  him,  he  applied  himself  faithfully  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  A 
newspaper  article,  written  when  he  was  but  fifteen  years  old,  was  so  remark- 
able that  his  friends  determined  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  a  o-ood  education, 
and  he  was  accordingly  sent  to  New  York,  where  he  graduated  at  Kind's  Col- 
lege. He  became  much  interested  in  politics,  and  a  speech  made  by  him  at  a 
public  meeting,  1774,  attracted  general  attention  to  him.  Soon  after  this  he 
wrote  a  number  of  political  pamphlets  that  at  once  gave  him  a  high  position  in 
the  community.  When  nineteen  years  old  he  obtained  a  commission  as  cap- 
tain of  artillery,  and  in  this  capacity  he  first  attracted  the  attention  of  Wash- 
ington, to  whom  he  finally  became  aide-de-camp.  So  implicit  was  Washington's 
confidence  in  this  stripling  of  twenty  that  he  intrusted  to  him  the  sole  man- 
agement of  his  most  delicate  correspondence  with  the  British  commanders  and 
others.  After  the  war  he  studied  law,  in  which  profession  he  at  once  rose  to 
eminence,  but  politics  continued  to  absorb  much  of  his  time.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  constitutional  convention,  and  wrote  the  majority  of  a  series  of 
papers  called  "  The  Federalist,"  which  appeared  in  a  New  York  paper,  in 
defence  of  the  Constitution,  and  no  doubt  had  much  weight  in  causing  its 
adoption  by  the  several  States.  Party  feeling  now  ran  very  high,  and  Hamil- 
ton's great  ability  and  untiring  energy  won  him  many  strong  friends  among 
the  Federalists,  and  many  bitter  enemies  in  the  opposite  party.  As  Washing- 
ton's first  secretary  of  the  treasury,  Hamilton's  career  was  brilliant  and  suc- 
cessful, and  he  readily  refuted  all  the  charges  brought  against  him  for 
mismanagement  and  dishonesty  by  the  Democrats.  A  split  occurring  in  the 
Federalist  party,  Hamilton,  by  his  opposition,  gave  deep  offence  to  Aaron 
Burr,  who  finally  challenged  him  to  a  duel  and  shot  him. 

Hamilton  is  described  as   being  under  the  medium  height  and   slight  in 
figure.     His  complexion  was  fair  and  delicate,  and  his  manners  were  most 


engagmg. 


The  first  step  to  be  taken  under  the  new  Constitution  was  to  elect  a  Pres- 
ident. There  was  but  one  man  who  was  thought  of  for  this  untried  office. 
George  Washington  was  unanimously  chosen.  Congress  was  summoned  to 
meet  in  New  York  on  the  4th  of  March  ;  but  the  members  had  to  travel  far 
on  foot,  or  on  horseback.  Roads  were  bad,  bridges  were  few  ;  streams,  in 
that  spring-time  were  swollen.  It  was  some  weeks  after  the  appointed  time  be- 
fore business  could  be  commenced. 

That  Congress  had  difficult  work  to  do,  and  it  was  done  patiently,  w^ith 
much  plain  sense  and  honesty.  As  yet  there  was  no  revenue,  while  every- 
where there  was  debt.  The  gfeneral  government  had  debt,  and  each  of  the 
States  had  debt.     There  was  the  foreign  debt — due  to  France,  Holland  and 


224 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Spain.  There  was  the  army  debt — for  arrears  of  pay  and  pensions.  There 
was  the  debt  of  the  five  great  departments — for  suppHes  obtained  during  the 
war.  There  was  a  vast  issue  of  paper-money  to  be  redeemed.  There  were 
huo^e  arrears  of  interest.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  no  provision 
whatever  for  these  enormous  obhgations. 

Washington,  with  a  sigh,  asked  a  friend,  "What  is  to  be  done  about  this 
heavy  debt?"  "There  is  but  one  man  in  America  can  tell  you,"  said  his 
friend,  "and  that  is  Alexander  Hamilton."  Washington  made  Hamilton 
secretary  of  the  treasury.  The  success  of  his  financial  measures  was  imme- 
diate and  complete.  "  He  smote  the  rock  of  the  national  resources,"  said 
Daniel  Webster,  "and  abundant  streams  of  revenue  gushed  forth.  He 
touched  the  dead  corpse  of  the  public  credit  and  it  sprung  upon  its  feet."    All 


THE    WHITE    HOUSE,    HOME   OF   THE    PRESIDENTS. 

the  war  debts  of  the  States  were  assumed  by  the  general  government.  Efii- 
cient  provision  was  made  for  the  regular  payment  of  interest,  and  for  a  sink- 
ing fund  to  liquidate  the  principal.  Duties  were  imposed  on  shipping,  on 
goods  imported  from  abroad,  and  on  spirits  manufactured  at  home.  The 
vigor  of  the  government  inspired  public  confidence,  and  commerce  began  to 
revive.  In  a  few  years  the  American  flag  was  seen  on  every  sea.  The 
simple  manufactures  of  the  country  resumed  their  long  interrupted  activity. 
A  national  bank  was  established.  Courts  were  set  up,  and  judges  were  ap- 
pointed. The  salaries  of  the  President  and  the  great  functionaries  were  set- 
tled. A  home  was  chosen  for  the  general  government  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac — where  the  capital  of  the  Union  was  to  supplant  the  litde  wooden 
village — remote  from  the  agitations  which  arise  in  the  great  centres  of  popu- 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


22') 


lation.  Innumerable  details  connected  with  the  establishment  of  a  new  o-ov- 
ernment  were  discussed  and  fixed.  Novel  as  the  circumstances  were,  litde 
of  the  work  then  done  has  required  to  be  undone.  Succeedino-  o-enerations 
of  Americans  have  approved  the  wisdom  of  their  early  legislators,  and  con- 
tinue unaltered  the  arrangements  which  were  framed  at  the  outset  of  the  na- 
tional existence. 

Washington  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office  on  the  30th  of  April,  1789. 
The  people  at  this  time  had  formed  themselves  into  two  political  parties. 
Those  who  felt  that  the  new  Federal  government  was  absolutely  necessary, 
took  the  name  of  Federalists,  and  supported  the  new  constitution.  Those 
who  liked  the  old  State  government  better,  took  the  name  of  Anti-Federalists, 
and  opposed  the  new  constitution.  Most  of  the  leading  men  were  Federal- 
ists at  this  time,  and  the  Anti-Federalists  had  but  two  great  leaders,  Samuel 
Adams  and  Patrick  Henry.  Subsequendy,  in  1792,  the  And-Federalists  took 
the  name  of  Republican  party  (similar  to  the  present  Democratic  party). 
Jefferson  and  Randolph  became  the  Republican  leaders,  and  Hamilton  and 
Knox  the  Federalist  leaders.  Washington,  although  he  tried  to  be  impartial, 
was  really  a  Federalist. 

At  the  second  Presidential  election,  in  1792,  all  the  electors  again  voted 
for  Washington,  and  John  Adams,  who  was  a  Federalist,  was  re-elected  Vice- 
President.  In  this  year  Kentucky  became  a  State.  In  1 796,  Tennessee  was 
admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  being  the  third  State  that  was  formed  dur- 
ing Washington's  administration.  He  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  a  third 
term  of  office. 

Washington  was  President 
during  the  first  eight  years  of  the 
constitution.  He  survived  his 
withdrawal  from  public  life  only 
three  years,  dying,  after  a  few 
hours'  illness,  m  the  sixty-eighth 
year  of  his  age.  To  this  day 
there  is  an  affectionate  watch- 
fulness for  opportunities  to  ex- 
press the  honor  in  which  his 
name  is  held.  To  this  day  the 
steamers  which  ply  upon  the 
Potomac  strike  mournful  notes 
upon  the  bell  as  they  sweep 
past  Mount  Vernon,  where 
Washington  had  spent  the  happiest  days  of  his  life,  and  where  he  died. 

John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  became  President  of  the  United  States  in 
1797,  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  having  received  only  three  votes  less 

15 


JOHN    ADAMS. 


'2J6 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


from  the  electoral  college,  became  Vice-President.  These  two  great  men  were 
leaders  of  opposite  parties,  and  during  their  four  years  of  office  the  country 
was  disturbed  by  a  violent  conflict  of  opinions.  The  inconvenience  of  such  a 
division  of  sentiment  in  the  administration  led,  a  few  years  later,  to  a  change 
in  the  mode  of  election — a  distinct  ballot  being  held  for  the  Vice-President, 
who  has  ever  since  been  of  the  same  political  party  with  his  chief. 

John  Adams  was  born  at  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  in  October,  1735.  He 
was  a  crraduate  of  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1755,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  three  years  later.  In  1 764  he  was  married.  He  was  an  active  and  in- 
fluential member  of  both  the  first  and  second  Continental  Congresses,  and  by 
his  enerijy  and  eloquence  did  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  man  to  crystallize 
the  American  sentiment  in  favor  of  independence. 

Many  of  the  acts  of  President  Adarns  were  violently  denounced  by  his 
partisan  opponents,  and  the  press  was  very  bitter  in  its  criticism  ;  but  the 
sober  judgment  of  later  years  has  approved  most  of  his  public  measures. 
He  and  Jefferson  became  widely  alienated  for  a  time  ;  but  before  their  death, 
which  by  a  singular  coincidence  occurred  on  the  same  day — the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  Declaration  of  Independence — a  happy  reconciliation  had  taken 
place. 

Difficulties  with  France  filled  almost  all  Adams'  administration.  The 
French  government  turned  the  American   minister  out  of  the  country,  and 

encouraged  their  naval  officers  to 
capture  and  sell  American  vessels 
and  cargoes.  Special  ministers 
were  sent  by  President  Adams  to. 
remonstrate,  but  the  French  rulers 
demanded  a  large  sum  of  money 
as  a  bribe  for  peace.  The  Ameri- 
can ministers  replied  that  they 
would  spend  "  millions  for  de- 
fence, not  one  cent  for  tribute ;  " 
and  the  American  people  backed 
them  and  prepared  for  war. 

Congress  increased  the  navy, 
and  ordered  it  to  capture  French 
vessels.  A  number  of  French 
privateers  were  captured,  when  Napoleon,  who  had  overturned  the  former 
French  government,  offered  fair  terms  of  peace  to  the  United  States,  and 
they  were  accepted. 

In  the  year  1 800,  the  seat  of  government  was  removed  from  Philadelphia 
to  the  new  city  of  Washington,  then  a  struggling,  half-built  village,  with  a  few 
public  buildinofs. 

•f 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 


^ 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  227 

In  the  year  1800,  parties  were  so  evenly  balanced  that  no  President  could 
be  chosen  by  the  electors.  By  a  provision  of  the  constitution  the  choice, 
therefore,  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Representatives.  After  a  close  bal- 
lot Thomas  Jefferson  was  declared  to  be  President-elect,  and  Aaron  Burr,  of 
New  York,  Vice-President. 

Jefferson  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  that  our  country  has  produced. 
It  was  Jefferson  who  wrote  the  celebrated  Declaration  of  Independence.  To 
him  we  are  indebted  for  the  present  convenient  denominations  of  Federal 
money,  such  as  cents,  dimes,  dollars,  etc.,  in  place  of  the  old  English  system 
of  pounds,  shillings  and  pence. 

During  his  administration  American  commerce  increased  enormously,  for 
nearly  all  Europe  was  now  at  war,  and  it  was  not  safe  to  send  goods  in  Euro- 
pean vessels,  which  were  liable  to  capture  by  their  enemies.  Money  came  in 
rapidly  to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  Ohio  was  admitted  in  the 
year  1802. 

Previous  to  the  year  1803,  the  territory  of  the  United  States  extended 
west  only  to  the  Mississippi  river — all  the  region  beyond,  then  called  Lou- 
isiana, being  owned  by  Spain.  This  latter  power,  however,  ceded  the  country 
to  France  in  the  year  1800,  and  in  the  year  1803  the  United  States  purchased 
it  from  France,  for  $15,000,000.  Thus  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
was  extended  west  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  Thomas  Jefferson  was  born  at  Shad- 
well,  Virginia,  1743,  and  died  at  Monticello,  1826. 

Aaron  Burr  was  arrested  and  tried  for  treason  in  1807.  He  was,  however, 
acquitted,  since  he  had  not  actually  borne  arms  against  the  United  States, 
although  he  had  intended  to  set  up  a  government  of  his  own  in  the  Missis- 
sippi valley.  The  year  1807  is  memorable  for  the  earliest  success  of  steam 
navigation.  Several  ingenious  men  had  been  experimenting  on  the  application 
of  Watt's  invention  to  modes  of  travel;  but  to  Robert  Fulton,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  is  due  the  credit  of  having  persevered  until  all  obstacles  were 
overcome.  He  was  liberally  aided  by  Chancellor  Livingston  of  New  York. 
His  first  boat,  the  Clermont,  ascended  the  Hudson  from  New  York  to 
Albany  in  1807.  Five  years  later  he  built  at  Pittsburgh  the  first  Mississippi 
steamer,  which,  descending  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  reached  New  Or- 
leans in  December,  181  2. 

Robert  Fulton  (born  1765,  died  1815)  was  in  his  earlier  years  more  of 
an  artist  than  a  mechanic,  and  he  went  to  London  to  perfect  himself  in  por- 
trait painting  under  the  famous  Benjamin  West.  While  there  he  met  Earl 
Stanhope,  James  Watt,  and  others  engaged  in  finding  practical  uses  for  the 
recently  invented  steam-engine,  and  his  mind  was  directed  to  the  solution  of 
the  same  problem.  His  first  application  of  steam-power  for  propelling  boats 
was  on  the  Seine,  in  1803,  but  the  experiment  was  not  very  successful.  After 
the  success  of  the  Clermont,  Fulton's  reputation  was  world-wide.     He  built 


228 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


JAMES    MADISON. 


many  river  steam-boats,  and  constructed  the  first  United  States  steam  war- 
vessel,  named  "  Fulton  the  First."  Among  his  inventions  were  an  improve- 
ment in  canal-locks,  a  submarine  torpedo,  and  machines  for  marble-sawing, 
flax-spinning  and  rope-making. 

Jefferson,  having  followed  the  example  of  Washington  in  declining  a  third 
term  of  office,  was  succeeded  by  James  Madison,  of  Virginia,  who  was  inaugu- 
rated March  4th,  1809.  George 
Clinton,  of  New  York,  was  re- 
elected as  Vice-President.  The 
same  principles  continued  to 
control  the  government,  and 
the  same  harmony  was  visible 
in  the  cabinet. 

During  many  years  Eng- 
land had  been  forcibly  taking 
seamen  from  our  vessels,  and 
compelling  them  to  serve  in 
her  navy,  under  the  pretence 
that  they  were  natives  of  Eng- 
land, and  were  therefore  still 
British  subjects.  After  many 
years  of  suffering  and  remonstrance,  the  United  States  finally  declared  war 
against  Great  Britain,  in  the  month  of  June,  181 2.  The  war  ended  with  the 
defeat  of  the  British  at  New  Orleans,  181 5. 

James  Madison  (born  i75i,died  1836)  was  born  at  King  George,  Virginia, 
of  English  descent.  He  had  unusual  educational  advantages  from  his  earliest 
years  and,  after  graduating  at  Princeton,  when  twenty  years  of  age,  he  pur- 
sued an  extensive  course  of  study,  embracing  law,  theology,  philosophy,  and 
general  literature.  At  this  period  of  his  life  he  permanently  impaired  his 
bodily  vigor  by  over-study,  and  by  allowing  himself  only  three  or  four  hours' 
sleep  each  day.  He  interested  himself  at  once  in  politics,  and  in  1776  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia  convention.  On  the  return  of  Jefferson 
from  F"rance,  Madison  was  offered  that  mission,  but  declined  it.  He  also 
refused  the  position  of  secretary  of  state  when  Jefferson  vacated  it,  feeling 
that  he  would  create  a  discord  in  Washington's  cabinet.  At  the  time  of  the 
Constituent  Convention  he  was  an  ardent  Federalist,  but  later  chaneed  his 
views,  and  was  before  long  recognized  as  the  leader  of  the  Democratic  party. 
James  Monroe,  of  Virginia,  the  fifth  President  of  the  United  States,  had  a 
happy  and  popular  administration.  He  was  inaugurated  in  181 7.  The 
country  speedily  recovered  from  the  disasters  occasioned  by  the  war;  the 
fame  of  its  rich,  unoccupied  lands  drew  a  tide  of  immigrants  from  Europe, 
■whose  labor  helped  to  develop  the  natural  wealth  of  the  country,  and,  by 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


229 


making  roads,  bridges  and  canals  to  supply  outlets  for  its  productions. 
A  ten  years'  revolution  had  now  resulted  in  the  separation  of  most  of  the 
Spanish  colonies  from  their  mother-country.  In  recognizing  Mexico  and  five 
South  American  republics  as  independent  states,  President  Monroe  announced 
the  principle  of  his  foreign  policy :  "  The  American  continents,  by  the  free  and 
independent  position  which  they  have  assumed  and  maintained,  are  not  to  be 
considered  as  subject  to  future  colonization  by  any  foreign  power."  "Friend- 
ship with  all,  entangling  alliances  with  none,"  has  been  the  spirit  of  interna- 
tional relations  founded  upon  the  "  Monroe  Doctrine." 

In  1824,  the  Marquis  Lafayette,  now  an  old  man,  came  to  see  once  more, 
before  he  died,  the  country  he  had  helped  to  save,  and  took  part  with  wonder 
in  the  national  rejoicing.  The  poor  colonists,  for  whose  liberties  he  had 
fought,  had  already  become  a  powerful  and  wealthy  nation.  Everywhere 
there  had  been  expansion.  Everywhere  there  were  comfort  and  abundance. 
Everywhere  there  were  boundless  faith  in  the  future  and  a  vehement,  unrest- 
ing energy,  which  would  surely  compel  the  fulfilment  of  any  expectations, 
however  vast. 

During  his  administration,  upon  the  application  of  Missouri  for  leave  to 
form  a  Siate  constitution,  the  important  question  arose  in  Congress  whether 
any  more  slave-States  should  be  admitted.  After  long  discussion  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  settled  by  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  admitted  that  State 
with  its  slaves,  but  prohibited  the  extension  of  slavery  into  any  Territory  of 
the  United  States  north  of  36°  30' 
north  latitude. 

Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  was 
the  chief  advocate  of  the  compro- 
mise, and  he  used  all  his  eloquence 
in  calming  the  angry  passions 
which  the  discussion  had  excited, 
and  in  promoting  peace  and 
brotherly  confidence. 

The  first  ocean  steamer  crossed 
the  Adantic,  from  Savannah  to  Liv- 
erpool, in  1819.  The  same  year  a 
treaty  was  made  by  which  Spain 
ceded  Florida,  o-f  which  she   had 


JAMES    MONROE. 


again  obtained  possession,  to  the  United  States,  the  latter  undertaking  to  pay 
$5,000,000,  due  from  the  former  power  to  American  citizens.  Florida  became 
a  Territory  under  the  control  of  Congress,  and  the  President  appointed  General 
Jackson  to  be  its  governor. 

James  Monroe  (born  1758,  died   1831)  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  and  was 
educated  at  William  and  Mary  College.     During  the  Revolution  he  fought  as 


230 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


a  subordinate  officer  at  Trenton,  Brandywine,  Germantown  and  Monmouth, 
and  after  the  war  took  a  prominent  part  in  poHtics,  both  in  the  Virginia 
assembly  and  in  Congress.  He  died  in  New  York  City,  July  4th,  1831,  and 
was  buried  there  ;  but  in  1858  his  remains  were  removed  in  state  to  Richmond, 
Virginia,  and  there  re-interred  in  the  Hollywood  cemetery. 

Henry  Clay  (born  1777,  died  1852)  was  born  near  Richmond,  Virginia.  His 
fatiier,  a  Baptist  preacher,  died  when  Henry  was  five  years  old.  His  mother 
married  a  second  time,  and  removed  to  Kentucky,  leaving  Henry  at  work  as 
clerk  in  a  retail  store  in  Richmond.  He  soon  abandoned  this  position,  how- 
ever, and  became  a  copyist  in  a  law  office.  Licensed  as  a  lawyer  in  1797,  he 
removed  to  Lexington,  Kentucky,  and  soon  established  a  flourishing  practice 
through  his  remarkable  power  of  influencing  juries.  Clay  retired  from  public 
life  in  1842,  but  in  1848  he  was  again  sent  to  the  Senate,  where  he  struggled 
hard  to  avert  the  great  battle  on  the  slavery  question.  Unfortunately  his 
health  gave  way,  and  in  1851  he  was  compelled  to  retire  to  private  life,  and  in 
the  following  year,  on  the  29th  of  July,  he  died.  Congress  adjourned  on  the 
news  of  his  death,  and  the  following  day  eulogies  were  delivered  in  both 
Senate  and  House.  New  York  and  the  chief  cities  of  Kentucky  honored  the 
day  of  his  funeral. 

John  Ouincy  Adams  was  inaugurated  in  the  year  1825,  and  John  C.  Calhoun, 

of  South  Carolina,  became  Vice- 
President.  In  internal  affairs  this 
administration  was  marked  by  an 
uncommon  prosperity.  The  im- 
portant event  was  the  introduction 
of  the  first  railroads. 

John  Ouincy  Adams  was  born 
at  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  July, 
1767.  As  a  boy  he  was  very  pre- 
cocious, and  attracted  attention 
wherever  he  went  for  his  vigor  of 
mind  and  body.  In  the  presidential 
election  of  1824  the  three  candi- 
dates besides  John  Ouincy  Adams 
were  Andrew  Jackson,  Henry  Clay, 
and  William  H.  Crawford — all  four  belonging  to  the  same  political  party. 
Jackson  received  ninety-nine  electoral  votes,  Adams  eighty-four,  Crawford 
forty-one,  and  Clay  thirty-seven.  Henry  Clay  threw  his  influence  in  favor  of 
Adams,  which  secured  his  election.  The  friends  of  the  other  two  defeated 
candidates  formed  a  coalition  against  the  new  President,  which  made  his  office 
very  uncomfortable,  and  insured  his  defeat  for  a  second  term.  He  entered 
Congress  in  1831,  and  ably  represented  his  district  for  seventeen  years,  until 


JOHN   QUINCY    ADAMS. 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


231 


/="sr^- 


stricken  with  death  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  February 

2 1  St,   1848. 

John  Caldwell  Calhoun  (born  1782,  died  1850).  This  great  statesman, 
champion  of  southern  rights  and  opinions,  was  born  in  Abbeville  district, 
South  Carolina.  His  ancestors  on  both  sides  were  Irish  Presbyterians.  In 
youth  he  was  very  studious,  and  made 
the  best  use  of  such  opportunities  for 
education  as  the  frontier  settlement  af- 
forded. He  graduated  at  Yale  College 
in  1804,  and  studied  law  at  Litchfield, 
Connecticut.  In  1808,  he  was  elected 
to  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina; 
and,  three  years  later,  he  was  chosen  to 
the  national  House  of  Representatives. 
During  the  six  years  that  he  remained 
in  the  House,  he  took  an  active  and 
prominent  part  in  the  stirring  events  of 
the  time.  In  1817  he  was  appointed  sec- 
retary of  war,  and  held  the  office  seven 
years.  From  1825  to  1832  he  was  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States.  He 
then  resisjned  this  office,  and  took  his 
seat  as  senator  from  South  Carolina.     In 

1844  President  Tyler  called  him  to  his  cabinet  as  secretary  of  state;  and  in 

1845  he  returned  to  the  Senate,  where  he  remained  till  his  death. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  United  States  achieved  their  inde- 
pendence, Roger  Williams  taught  that  every  man  is  answerable  for  his  be- 
lief to  God  alone,  and  that  governments  have  no  right  to  interfere  in  matters 
of  religion.  This  principle,  although  rejected  at  that  time,  has  been  a  funda- 
mental one  with  the  United  States  government.  This  will  account  for  its  non- 
interference with  the  religion  of  the  Mormons,  which,  about  this  time,  came 
into  general  notice,  and  to  which  there  has  been  individual  objection  in  regard 
to  its  permission  within  the  Territories  of  the  United  States. 

In  1823,  Joseph  Smith,  at  Palmyra,  New  York,  proclaimed  tiiat  he  had 
had  a  vision,  wherein  an  angel  stood  before  him,  who  declared  that  he  had 
been  chosen  a  prophet  to  reveal  to  the  world  a  new  religion  ol  Christ,  and 
who  pointed  out  to  him  the  place  where  were  hidden  some  golden  plates,  on 
which  were  inscribed  the  new  faith  and  the  history  of  the  Indian  races  of  this 
country.  From  this  he  produced  what  is  called  the  Book  of  Mormon.  After 
various  attempts  at  setdement  in  Ohio  and  New  York,  he  and  his  followers 
moved  West,  where  Smith  was  killed  by  a  mob.  Brigham  Young  was  chosen 
president  in  place  of  the  dead  prophet  and,  in  1847,  he  set  out  with  his  fol- 


JOHN  C.  CALHOUN. 


232 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


A   MORMON    HOME. 


lowers  for  the  valley  of  the  Great  Salt  lake,  where  he  founded  Great  Salt 
Lake  City,  and  where  the  community  have  since  lived  in  peace  and  inde- 
pendence. The  present  number  of  Mormons  in  this  country  is  about  forty 
or  fiftv  thousand,  made  up  in  great  part  of  proselytes  from  Europe.     The 

most  notable  feature  of  Mormon- 
ism,  as  it  now  exists,  is  polygamy 
— each  saint  taking  as  many  wives 
as  his  circumstances  and  position 
appear  to  justify,  besides  forming 
spiritual  unions  with  others  whom 
he  does  not  marry,  but  who  will 
accompany  him  to  paradise. 

President  Adams  absolutely  re- 
fused to  employ  the  influence  of 
the  eovernment  to  secure  his  re- 
election :  he  was  opposed  by  many 
of  his  own  officers,  and  General 
Andrew  Jackson  received  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  at  the 
autumn  election  of  1828.  During  the  administration  of  General  Jackson 
violent  debates  arose  in  Congress  on  questions  concerning  the  public 
lands  and  the  raising  of  a  revenue  for  the  government.     The  opposing  in- 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


233 


terests  of  the  North  and  the  South  now  became  more  fiercely  clamorous. 
Daniel  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Robert  Hayne,  of  South  Carolina,  ar- 
gued with  great  eloquence,  the  one  for  "  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  for- 
ever," the  other  for  "  State  Rights  "  of  nullification  or  secession. 

Andrew  Jackson  was  born  at  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  North  Carolina, 
March  15th,  1767.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1786,  and  had  a  large 
and  lucrative  law  practice.  He  may  be  said  to  have  begun  his  military  career 
in  the  Creek  war  of  181 3. 

His  foreign  policy  was  highly  creditable.  The  nullification  movement,  the 
bank  war,  the  Indian  troubles,  and  the  hot  debates  on  the  currency,  tariff  and 
slavery  questions — all  together  made  Jackson's  term  of  office  an  exciting  one. 
He  was  glad  to  retire  to  the  quiet  scenes  of  his  "  Hermitage,"  where  he  died 
of  dropsy,  June,  1845. 

Daniel  Webster  (born  in  Salis- 
bury, New  Hampshire,  1782,  died 
at  Marshfield,  Massachusetts,  1852) 
had  as  a  boy  no  educational  ad- 
vantages beyond  the  home  instruc- 
tion of  his  father  and  mother,  and  a 
few  terms  in  the  district  schools  of 
the  neighborhood.  He  passed  nine 
months  of  diligent  study  at  Phillips' 
E.xeter  Academy,  and  finished  his 
preparation  for  college  in  the  family 
of  a  minister  at  Boscawen.  He  was 
graduated  from  Dartmouth  with  high 
honors  in  1801. 

In  1S05  Daniel  Webster  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  Boston,  and  lo- 
cated in  Portsmouth,  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  1807  ;  in  1808  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Grace  Fletcher;  in  181  2  he  was  elected  to  Congress  by  the  Fed- 
eralists, and  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  House  for  two  terms.  Then  he 
removed  to  Boston,  and,  during  the  busy  practice  of  his  profession  for  the 
next  seven  years,  attained  the  reputation  of  the  greatest  lawyer  of  his  time. 
In  1823  Webster  was  again  sent  to  the  national  House  of  Representatives, 
and  was  twice  re-elected;  but,  in  1827.  he  was  transferred  to  the  Senate,  ot 
which  body  he  was,  perhaps,  the  most  conspicuous  figure  during  the  next 
twelve  years.  Webster  married  a  second  time  in  1829.  As  secretary  of 
state  under  Harrison  and  Tyler,  and  again  under  Fillmore,  he  managed  the 
foreign  affairs  of  the  nation  with  consummate  skill.  He  was  returned  to  the 
United  States  Senate  in  1845,  where  he  continued  until  he  entered  Fillmore's 


DANIEL   NA'EBSTER. 


234 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


cabinet,  in  1850.     In  May,  1852,  he  was  thrown  from  a  carriage  and  severely 
injured.     This  accident,  no  doubt,  hastened  his  death. 

Robert  Young  Hayne  (born  1791,  died  1840)  entered  the  United  States 
Senate  in  1S23  and  served  two  terms.  He  was  educated  for  the  law,  fought 
in  the  war  of  181  2,  was  speaker  of  the  House  in  the  South  Carolina  legisla- 
ture and  attorney-general  for  the  State,  before  coming  to  Washington.  Be- 
fore his  senatorial  term  was  ended,  he  was  chosen  governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  boldly  defied  President  Jackson  to  enforce  his  proclamation  in  regard 
to  the  nullification  acts. 

Hayne  possessed  brilliant  talents,  and  was  especially  strong  in  debate. 
At  the  autumn  election  of  1836,  Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New  York,  was 
chosen  to  be  President.  The  electors  failed  to  unite  upon  a  Vice-President, 
and  the  Senate  chose  for  its  presiding  officer  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky. 
Martin  Van  Buren  was  the  first  President  born  after  the  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence. His  success  was  due  to  his  abilities  as  lawyer,  politician  and  states- 
man.    He  was  born  at  Kinderhook,  New  York,  December  5th,  1782;  died 

there  July  24th,  1862.  He  en- 
joyed only  a  moderate  educa- 
tion, and  in  1 796  began  the 
study  of  law,  whicli  he  continued 
until  1803,  when  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  He  had  meanwhile 
taken  an  active  part  in  politics, 
and  in  1808  was  appointed  sur- 
rogate of  Columbia  county.  In 
1 8 1 2  he  was  elected  to  the  State 
Senate.  He. continued  a  mem- 
ber of  that  body  until  1820,  hav- 
ing been,  during  that  period,  a 
supporter  of  the  war  and  the 
canal  project.  A  portion  of  this 
time  he  also  held  the  office  of  attorney-general.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
constitutional  convention  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  1821,  and  in  Febru- 
ary of  the  same  year  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  re- 
elected in  1827,  serving  until  1829.  The  following  year  the  gubernatorial 
chair  of  the  State  of  New  York  became  vacant  by  the  death  of  Governor 
Clmton,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  selected  as  the  candidate  for  that  office  by 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  State.  He  was  elected,  but  his  career  as  gover- 
nor was  brief,  for  he  soon  afterwards  accepted,  from  President  Jackson,  the 
office  of  secretarj'  of  state.  He  received  a  large  majority  of  the  electoral 
votes  for  Vice-President  in  1832,  which  office  he  continued  to  fill  during  Presi- 
dent Jackson's  term. 


MARTIN    VAN    BUREN. 


THE   UNITED  STATES.  235 

Martin  Van  Buren  died  at  his  native  place  in  1862. 

In  1837  occurred  a  great  business  revulsion,  which  brought  ruin  to  thou- 
sands. Speculation  had  been  rampant ;  importations  ruinously  large  ;  busi- 
ness had  been  too  much  expanded,  and  an  unsound  credit  system  prevailed. 
The  banks  were  obliged  to  suspend  specie  payments ;  a  commercial  panic 
and  failures  to  an  enormous  amount  were  the  consequence.  Conoress  in 
vain  tried  to  relieve  the  country ;  the  recovery  was  very  slow  and  tedious. 

The  financial  difficulties  un- 
der which  the  country  had  la- 
bored being  charged  by  many 
to  the  administration,  Van  Bu- 
ren was  not  re-elected.  The 
Whigrs  had  nominated  General 
William  H.  Harrison,  whose 
military  services  the  country 
remembered  with  gratitude. 
Second  on  their  ticket  was 
John  Tyler,  of  \"irginia,  who 
had  been  g-overnor  of  that  State 
and  had  also  represented  it  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  The 
presidential  campaign  was  an 
exciting  one.  Log-cabin  and  hard  cider  barrels  figured  largely  in  it,  as  em- 
blematical of  Harrison's  plain  farmer-life  in  Ohio,  and  the  song  of  "  Tippe- 
canoe and  Tyler  too"  rang  through  the  land.  The  Whig  nominees  were 
elected  by  a  large  majority. 

President  Harrison  lived  only  one  month  after  his  inauguration.  "  Killed 
by  office-seekers"  would  probably  be  the  true  verdict;  for,  anxious  to  do  jus- 
tice to  all  men,  he  gave  to  the  throng  of  applicants  time  which  he  needed  for 
repose.  He  died  April  4th,  1841.  John  Tyler,  of  \'irginia,  became  Presi- 
dent, retaining  the  same  cabinet  which  Harrison  had  appointed  and  the  Sen- 
ate had  confirmed. 

John  Tyler,  the  successor  of  President  Harrison,  was  born  in  Mrginia  in 
1790.  He  had  barely  attained  manhood  when  he  was  elected  to  the  State 
legislature.  Five  years  afterwards  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  in  1S26 
to  the  gubernatorial  chair  of  his  native  State.  Before  the  expiration  of  the 
term  of  his  office  he  was  chosen  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  where  he  officiated  as  president  pro  fern,  of  that  body.  He  served 
in  this  capacity  till,  a  difference  of  opinion  having  arisen  between  General 
Jackson  and  himself,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  1S36.  In  1840  he  was  selected 
by  the  Whig  party  as  their  candidate  for  Vice-President.  He  was  elected  to 
that  office  by  a  large  majority,  and  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties 


GENERAL   WILLIAM    H.    HARRISON. 


236 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


JOHN   TYLER. 


in  March,  1841,  when  the  death  of  the  President,  General  Harrison,  shortly- 
after,  raised  him  to  the  chief-magistracy  of  the  Republic.  His  term  of  of- 
fice expired  in  1845,  after  which  he  lived  in  retirement  in  Virginia  until  early 

in  1 861,  when  he  re-appeared  at 
Washington  as  a  delegate  to  the 
Peace  Congress,  of  which  body 
he  was  president.  A  few  weeks 
later  he  became  a  member  of*^ 
the  Virginia  convention  which 
passed  the  ordinance  of  seces- 
sion, and  subsequently  of  the 
Confederate  Congress.  He  died 
in  Richmond,  January  17th,  1862. 
James  K.  Polk  was  inau- 
gurated President  in  1845,  ^"^'^^^ 
George  M.  Dallas  as  Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

The  electro-magnetic  tele- 
graph, invented  by  Professor  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  was  now  first  put  to  practical 
use.  Congress  appropriated  ^30,000  to  test  the  invention,  and  a  line  was 
built  from  Washington  to  Baltimore.  The  first  public  despatch  ever  sent 
over  the  wires  was  the  announcement  of  Polk's  nomination,  May  29th,  1844. 

In  March,  1845,  Texas  was  re- 
ceived into  the  Union.  Mexico 
was  displeased  with  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas  and,  without  the 
formality  of  any  declaration  of 
war,  a  Mexican  army  of  6,000 
men  attacked  an  American  army 
of  4,000  in  the  south-western  part 
of  that  State,  but  received  a  se- 
vere defeat. 

President  Polk  hastened  to  an- 
nounce to  Congress  that  the  Mexi- 
cans had  "  invaded  our  territory, 
and  shed  the  blood  of  our  fellow- 
citizens."  Congress  voted  men 
and  money  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  volunteers  offered  themselves 
in  multitudes.  Their  brave  litde  army  was  in  peril — far  from  help,  and  sur- 
rounded by  enemies.  The  people  were  eager  to  support  the  heroes  of  whose 
victory  they  were  so  proud. 

The  war  was  pushed  with  vigor,  at  first  under  the  command  of  General 


I  A  M  Eb    K.    POLK 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


20- 


Taylor,  and  finally  under  General  Scott,  who,  as  a  very  young  man,  had  fought 
against  the  British  at  Niagara,  and,  as  a  very  old  man,  was  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  American  army  when  the  great  war  between  North  and  South 
began.  Many  officers  were  there  whose  names  became  famous  in  after  years. 
General  Lee  and  General  Grant  gained  here  their  first  experience  of  war. 
They  were  not  then  known  to  each  other.  They  met  for  the  first  time,  twenty 
years  after,  in  a  Virginian  cottage,  to  arrange  terms  of  surrender  for  the  de- 
feated army  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

The  Americans  resolved  to  fight  their  way  to  the  enemy's  capital,  and 
there  compel  such  a  peace  as  would  be  agreeable  to  themselves.     The  task 


THE    ALAMO. 


was  not  without  difficulty.  The  Mexican  army  was  greatly  more  numerous. 
They  had  a  splendid  cavalry  force  and  an  efficient  artillery.  Their  com- 
mander, Santa  Anna,  unscrupulous  even  for  a  Mexican,  was  yet  a  soldier  of 
some  ability.  The  Americans  were  mainly  volunteers,  who  had  never  seen 
war  till  now.  The  fighting  was  severe.  At  Buena  Vista  the  American  army 
was  attacked  by  a  force  which  outnumbered  it  in  the  proportion  of  five  to  one. 
The  battle  lasted  for  ten  hours,  and  the  invaders  were  saved  from  ruin  by  their 
superior  artillery.  The  mountain  passes  were  strongly  fortified,  and  General 
Scott  had  to  convey  his  army  across  chasms  and  ravines  which  the  Mexicans, 
deeming  them  impassable,  had  neglected  to  defend.  Strong  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  their  superiority  to  the  people  they  invaded — the  same  con- 


238 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


sciousness  which  supported  Cortez  and  his  Spaniards  three  centuries  before — 
the  Americans  pressed  on.  At  length  they  came  in  sight  of  Mexico,  at  the 
same  spot  where  Cortez  had  viewed  it.  Once  more  they  routed  a  Mexican 
army  of  greatly  superior  force ;  and  then  General  Scott  marched  his  little 
army  of  6,000  men  quietly  into  the  capital.  The  war  was  closed,  and  a  treaty 
of  peace  was,  with  little  delay,  negotiated. 

Winfield  Scott  (born  1786,  died  1866)  was  born  at  Petersburg,  Virginia. 
After  graduating  at  William  and  Mary  College  he  adopted  the  profession  of 
law,  but  almost  immediately  abandoned  it,  entering  the  army  as  a  captain  in 
1808.  His  brilliant  career  in  the  war  of  1812,  the  Creek  war  and  the  war 
with  Mexico,  has  made  him  one  of  the  most  renowned  of  American  generals, 
while  the  tact  and  judgment  displayed  in  managing  the  delicate  questions  of 
the  tariff  trouble  in  South  Carolina,  and  the  Canadian  agitation  of  1837, 
marked  him  as  a  skilful  diplomate.  He  was  retired  in  1861  on  full  pay  and 
rank,  and  passed  his  remaining  days  at  West  Point.  He  has  left  behind  him 
several  military  works,  a  few  letters,  and  a  book  of  memoirs  of  his  life. 

Zachary  Taylor  was  one  who,  previous  to  his  election  to  the  Presidency, 
never  held  a  civil  office.  He  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1786.  His  father,  who 
had  fought  at  the  side  of  Washington  during  all  the  war  of  independence,  at 

its  conclusion  settled  in  Kentucky, 
and  conducted  his  family  to  their 
forest-home,  where  his  son,  amid 
the  perils  of  savage  life,  had  ample 
opportunity  of  developing  those 
military  qualities  of  which  he  after- 
wards gave  so  signal  a  proof.  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Eng- 
land, in  181  2,  he  hastened  to  join 
the  army,  and  was  appointed  to 
guard  the  banks  of  the  Wabash. 
In  that  year,  while  in  command  of 
the  garrison  of  Fort  Henderson, 
consisting  only  of  fifty-two  men, 
ZACHARY  TAVLOR.  he  was  suddenly  attacked  at  mid- 

night by  a  hostile  party,  who  succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the  fort.  But  Taylor, 
with  his  handful  of  men,  extinguished  the  flames  and  forced  the  enemy  to 
retreat.  For  this  exploit  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  major.  In  the  war 
against  the  Indians,  both  in  Florida  and  Arkansas,  he  passed  successively 
through  all  the  grades  of  his  profession,  till  he  reached  the  rank  of  general. 
Nominated,  in  1846,  to  the  command  of  a  corps  of  observation  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Mexico,  an  attack  of  the  Mexicans  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  cross- 
ing the  Rio  Grande,  and  of  gaining  his  first  battle,  at  Palo  Alto.     The  vie- 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


239 


tories  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  Monterey  and  Buena  Vista,  proved  him  at  once 
a  valiant  soldier  and  an  able  general,  and  marked  him  out  to  the  suffrages  of 
his  countrymen  for  the  Presidency.  Chosen  in  November,  1848,  he  entered 
on  his  high  office  in  March,  1849  ;  but  he  had  only  filled  the  chair  for  sixteen 
months  when  he  was  attacked  by  the  cholera  and  died,  July,  1850.  His  last 
words  were,  "  I  have  tried  to  do  my  duty ;  I  am  not  afraid  to  die."  Millard 
Fillmore,  of  New  York,  the  Vice-President,  now  came  to  the  head  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Daniel  Webster  was  appointed  secretary  of  state.  Part  of  the 
duties  of  that  office  were  devolved  upon  the  new  "  Department  of  the  In- 
terior," which  has  charge  of  the  public  lands,  of  dealings  with  the  Indians, 
and  of  issuing  patents. 

Millard  Fillmore  was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  New  York,  in  1800,  which 
at  that  time  was  very  sparsely  settled,  and  the  young  boy  had  the  simplest 
of  rudimentary  education.  He 
was  apprenticed  to  a  trade  when 
fourteen,  but,  being  ambitious, 
he  studied  hard  during  spare 
hours,  and  finally  obtaining  a 
release  from  his  master  he  en- 
tered a  law  office  as  a  clerk. 
After  two  years  of  drudgery 
there  he  went  to  Buffalo,  and 
although  at  first  almost  penni- 
less and  an  entire  straneer,  he 
succeeded  in  makino-  a  livins" 
and  in  winninof  friends  who  se- 
cured  his  admission  to  the  bar. 
His  abilities  soon  made  him 
known,  and  his  rise  was  rapid. 

His  political  life  commenced  in  1828,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  State 
legislature.  In  1832  he  was  first  elected  to  Congress,  and  served  one  term. 
He  was  re-elected  in  1836,  and  held  his  seat  until  1842,  when  he  declined  a 
renomi nation.  In  doctrine  he  was  a  staunch  Whig,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  debates  in  Congress.  He  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  ways  and  means,  a  most  important  post,  and  took  the  leading  part  in  draw- 
ing up  the  tariff  of  1842.  After  retiring  from  Congress  Mr.  Fillmore  was  a 
candidate  for  Vice-President,  but  failed  to  secure  the  nomination.  He  was 
also  defeated  as  the  Whig  nominee  for  governor  of  New  York  in  1844  :  but 
in  1847  he  was  elected  comptroller  of  the  State,  and  displayed  great  ability  in 
that  office. 

As  President,  Fillmore  won  the  sincere  admiration  of  his  cabinet.  His 
messages  to  Congress  contained  many  suggestions  of  great   value   to  the 


MILLARD    FILLMORE. 


240 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


country,  but  none  of  them  were  carried  out,  owing  to  purely  political  reasons. 
Fillmore  signed  the  various  acts  comprised  in  Mr.  Clay's  compromise  meas- 
ures, beino-  convinced  of  their  constitutionality;  but  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
which  was  included,  was  so  offensive  to  the  Abolition  party  that,  when  Mr.  Fill- 
more was  again  nominated  for  President  in  1856  by  the  "American"  party, 
he  was  unable  to  secure  the  electoral  vote  of  a  single  Northern  State.  He 
then  retired  to  private  life  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1874,  of 
paralysis. 

Franklin  Pierce  was  elevated  to  the  Presidency  in  1853.  The  great  po- 
litical events  of  Pierce's  administration  arose  from  a  bill  introduced  into  Con- 
CTress  by  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  "  to  organize  the  Territories 
of  Kansas  and  Nebraska."  Disregarding  the  Missouri  Compromise,  this  bill 
left  to  the  majority  of  people  in  each  Territory  the  choice  whether  to  enter  the 
Union  as  a  slave  or  a  free  State.  It  became  a  law  after  five  months  of  violent 
debate.     Then  began  a  rush  for  the  first  possession  of  the  land. 

Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  born  1804,  and  died  1869.  He 
graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  the  class  of  1824,  and  was  admitted  to  the 

bar  three  years  later.  He  was 
very  successful  as  a  lawyer.  His 
political  life  began  in  the  legisla- 
ture of  his  State,  from  which,  in 
1833,  he  was  transferred  to  the 
lower  house  of  Congress.  In 
1837  he  was  chosen  United  States 
senator.  Twice  Mr.  Pierce  re- 
fused cabinet  appointments  by 
President  Polk,  and  once  declined 
the  nomination  of  his  party  for 
governor  of  New  Hampshire. 
He  favored  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  and  was  among  the  first  to 
volunteer  for  the  Mexican  war. 
For  bravery  in  action  he  rapidly  rose  from  the  ranks  to  a  brigadier-general- 
ship, and  was  commissioned  by  General  Scott  to  arrange  an  armistice  after 
the  battle  of  Churubusco.  When  made  President,  in  1852,  he  received  254 
electoral  votes  to  forty-two  cast  for  Winfield  Scott.  Pierce's  entire  adminis- 
tration was  one  of  intense  political  excitement.  Party  feeling  ran  high  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  The  President  was  an  advocate  of  the  doctrine  of 
"  State  Rights,"  and  opposed  every  anti-slavery  movement.  After  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  of  office  Mr.  Pierce  made  an  extended  European  tour,  and 
then  setded  down  in  his  quiet  New  Hampshire  home. 

Stephen  Arnold  Douglas  was  born  in  Brandon,  Vermont,  181 3,  and  died 


FRANKLIN    PIERCE. 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


241 


at  Chicago,  1861.  He  emigrated  to  tlie  West  in  1833,  and  a  year  later  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  in  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  He  showed  such  ability 
in  his  profession  that  at  the  youthful  age  of  twenty-two  years  he  was  chosen 
attorney-general  of  the  State.  In  1840  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  state, 
and  the  same  year  a  judge  on  the  supreme  bench  of  Illinois.  Douglas  first 
became  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  1837,  but  was  defeated.  Again  nominated 
by  the  Democrats  in  1843,  he  was  more  successful.  He  was  re-elected  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  the  two  following  terms,  and  in  1847  was  promoted 
to  the  Senate.  He  was  an  acknowledged  leader  in  this  high  body  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  During  his  long  congressional  career  Mr.  Douglas  took 
part  ably  in  the  discussion  of  every  important  political  question  before  the 
nation.  He  was  a  master  of  constitutional  law,  a  powerful  debater,  and  ex- 
erted a  strong  personal  influence  over  his  audiences.  He  was  a  man  of 
large  frame,  though  not  tall,  and  was  popularly  styled  "  the  little  giant."  His 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  which  embodied  the  doctrine  of  "  squatter  sover- 
eignty" (as  termed  by  the  papers  of  the  day),  was  the  cause  of  exciting  con- 
troversy throughout  the  land,  and  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Republican 
party.  At  the  Baltimore  convention,  in  1852,  Mr.  Douglas  received  ninety- 
two  votes  as  candidate  for  the  Presidency;  and  at  Cincinnati,  in  1856,  121 
votes.  In  i860  he  was  the  nominee  of  the  northern  wing  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  received  a  very  large  popular  vote.  He  greatly  deplored  the  civil 
war,  and  strongly  denounced  the  doctrine  of  secession. 

James  Buchanan,  the  Democratic  candidate,  became  the  fifteenth  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States ;   John 


beinof 


Vice- 


C.     Breckenridsfe 
President. 

This  President  was  born  in 
Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania, 
1791,  and  died  near  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1868.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  181 2,  and 
practised  at  Lancaster.  Begin- 
ning as  a  Federalist,  he  was  a 
member  of  Congress  in  182 1-3 1  ; 
minister  to  Russia  in  1832-4; 
United  States  sena/or,  1834-45; 
secretary  of  state  under  Presi- 
dent Polk,  1845-9,  opposing  the 
anti-slavery  movement ;  United 
States  minister  to  England,  1853-6.  Jn  1856  he  was  Democratic  candidate 
for  President,  and  was  elected.  In  Congress  he  favored  a  tariff  merely  for 
revenue.     As  President  he  soon  announced  his  intention  to  make  it  his  spe- 

16 


JAMES    BUCHANAN. 


242 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


cial  study  to  suppress  the  slavery  agitation,  and  to  restore  the  harmony  be- 
tween the  States  that  had  been  disturbed  by  sectional  violence.  His  well-in- 
tentioned efforts  in  this  direction  were  not  successful.  It  was  clear  long  be- 
fore the  close  of  his  administration  that  a  severer  struggle  than  the  country- 
had  yet  gone  through  was  fast  becoming  inevitable.  After  Mr.  Buchanan  had 
retired  from  the  Presidency  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  he  withdrew  to  the 
privacy  of  Wheatland,  his  country  home,  near  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania. 
Here  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  taking  no  prominent  part  in  pub- 
lic affairs.  Always  a  keen  observer  of  public  events  as  well  as  a  most  patri- 
otic man,  he  watched  the  progress  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  with  the 
greatest  solicitude.  In  1866  he  published  a  volume  entitled  "  Mr.  Buchanan's 
Administration,"  in  which  he  explained  the  policy  he  had  pursued  while  in 
the  presidential  office.  He  died  at  Wheatland,  on  the  ist  of  June,  in  the 
year  1868. 

The  Democratic  party,  in  convention  at  Charleston,  became  divided  on  the 
question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories.  The  seceding  minority  formed  a  new 
convention  at  Richmond,  and  nominated  John  C.  Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky, 
to  be  the  next  President.  The  majority  adjourned  to  Baltimore  and  nomi- 
nated Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois.  A  third  party  named  John  Bell,  of 
Tennessee,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  The  Republicans  meanwhile  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  IHi- 
nois,  and  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine. 

By  dividing  its  forces  the   Democratic   party  lost  the  power  which  it  had 

held  for  twelve  out  of  fifteen 
presidential  terms  since  the  ac- 
cession of  Jefferson.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was,  therefore,  elected  by  a 
plurality  of  votes.  The  threat 
of  withdrawing  from  the  Union 
was  put  into  force,  and  an  ordi- 
nance of  secession  passed  by 
South  Carolina.  Within  a  few 
weeks  Georgia  and  all  the  Gulf 
States  had  followed  the  example. 
A  convention  of  delegates  from 
six  of  the  seven  seceding  States 
met  at  Montgomery,  Alabama, 
in  February,  i86i,and  organized 
a  new  government  under  the 
tide  of  "The  Confederate  States  of  America."  The  main  features  of  its  con- 
stitution were  modelled  upon  those  of  the  United  States,  but  the  sovereign 
rights  of  each  State  were  recognized ;  the  favor  of  foreign  nations  was  sought 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 


J 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


243 


by  pledges  of  free  trade  ;  and  slavery  was  guaranteed  protection  not  only  in 
existing  States,  but  in  Territories  yet  to  be  acquired. 

Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  and  Alexander  H.  Stephens  were  elected 
President  and  Vice-President  of  the  new  confederacy. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  dwell  upon  the  details  of  the  late  war,  which  is 
yet  fresh  in  the  memory  of  many,  and  of  which  there  are  many  histories. 

The  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports  effected  for  many  months  an  almost 
complete  isolation  of  the  Confederates  from  the  world  outside.  Now  and 
then  a  ship,  laden  with  arms  and  clothing  and  medicine,  ran  past  the  blockad- 
ing squadron  and  discharged  her  precious  wares  in  a  Southern   port.     Now 


VICKSBURG. 

and  then  a  ship  laden  with  cotton  stole  out  and  got  safely  to  sea.  But  this 
perilous  and  scanty  commerce  afforded  no  appreciable  relief  to  the  want 
which  had  already  begun  to  brood  over  this  doomed  people.  The  govern- 
ment could  find  soldiers  enough,  but  it  could  not  find  for  them  arms  and 
clothing.  The  railroads  could  not  be  kept  in  working  condition  in  the  absence 
of  foreign  iron.  Worst  of  all,  a  scarcity  of  food  began  to  threaten.  Jeffer- 
son Davis  begged  his  people  to  lay  aside  all  thought  of  gain,  and  devote 
themselves  to  the  raising  of  supplies  for  the  army.  Even  now  the  army  was 
frequendy  on  half-supply  of  bread.  The  South  could  look  back  with  just 
pride  upon  a  long  train  of  brilliant  victories,  gained  with  scanty  means  by  her 


244  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

own  valor  and  genius.  But,  even  in  this  hour  of  triumph,  it  was  evident  that 
her  position  was  desperate. 

The  North  had  not  yet  completely  established  her  supremacy  upon  the 
Mississippi.  Two  rebel  strongholds — Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson — had  suc- 
cessfully resisted  Federal  attack,  and  maintained  communication  between  the 
revolted  provinces  on  either  side  the  great  river.  The  reduction  of  these  was 
indispensable.  General  Grant  was  charged  with  the  important  enterprise, 
and  proceeded  in  February  to  begin  his  work. 

For  six  weeks  Grant  pressed  the  siege  with  a  fiery  energy  which  allowed 
no  rest  to  the  besieged.  General  Johnston  was  not  far  off,  mustering  an  army 
for  the  relief  of  Vicksburg,  and  there  was  not  an  hour  to  lose.  Grant  kept 
a  strict  blockade  upon  the  scantily-provisioned  city.  From  his  gun-boats  and 
from  his  own  lines  he  maintained  an  almost  ceaseless  bombardment.  The 
inhabitants  crept  into  caves  in  the  hill  to  find  shelter  from  the  intolerable  fire. 
They  slaughtered  their  mules  for  food.  They  patiently  endured  the  inevitable 
hardships  of  their  position ;  and  their  daily  newspaper,  printed  on  scraps  of 
such  paper  as  men  cover  their  walls  with,  continued  to  the  end  to  make  light 
of  their  sufferings,  and  to  breathe  defiance  against  General  Grant.  But  all 
was  vain.  On  the  4th  of  July — the  anniversary  of  independence — Vicksburg 
was  surrendered  with  her  garrison  of  23,000  men. 

During  the  later  years  of  the  war  the  North  exerted  her  giant  strength  to 
the  utmost,  in  order  to  crush  the  stubborn  defence  of  the  revolted  States. 
She  had  1,000,000  men  under  arms.  She  had  600  ships-of-war.  Her  peo- 
ple supplied  freely,  although  on  terms  whose  severity  patriotism  did  not  ap- 
pear to  modify,  the  means  of  an  enormous  expenditure.  Her  own  factories 
worked  night  and  day  to  provide  military  stores ;  and  their  efforts  were  freely 
supplemented  by  the  dockyards  and  foundries  of  Europe.  Peaceful  America 
was  for  the  time  the  greatest  military  power  of  the  world.  Her  soldiers  had 
gained  the  skill  of  veterans.  Among  her  generals  men  had  been  found 
worthy  to  direct  the  vast  forces  of  the  republic. 

The  poor  Confederates  were  habitually  ill-supplied  with  food.  Every 
available  man  was  already  in  the  ranks;  if  men  could  have  been  found,  there 
were  no  arms  to  give  them.  The  strength  of  the  Confederacy  waned  so 
steadily  that  Grant  became  anxious  lest  General  Lee  should  take  to  flight  and 
renew  the  war  on  other  fields.  He  prepared  an  attack  with  overwhelming 
numbers  upon  the  enfeebled  Southern  lines.  He  stormed  a  fort  in  the  centre 
of  Lee's  position,  cutting  his  army  in  two,  and  making  an  immediate  retreat 
inevitable.  The  rebel  government  fled  from  Richmond,  and  General  Lee,  a 
few  days  afterward,  laid  down  his  arms.  The  North  had  triumphed.  After 
four  years  of  war  the  Rebellion  was  quelled,  and  the  authority  of  the  Federal 
government  was  undisputed  from  Adantic  to  Pacific,  from  the  great  lakes  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  245 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  President  and  entered  upon  his  second  term  of 
office  a  few  weeks  before  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  with  the  army  when 
its  final  triumphs  were  gained,  and  he  visited  Richmond  on  the  day  of  sur- 
render, walking  through  the  streets  with  his  little  boy  by  his  side.  No  heart 
in  all  the  rejoicing  land  was  more  thankful  and  more  glad  than  his.  He  oc- 
cupied himself  with  measures  for  healing  the  nation's  wounds.  No  thought 
of  vengeance  for  the  past  was  entertained.  Security  for  the  future  was  nec- 
essary, but  it  was  to  be  sought  for  with  all  leniency  and  gentleness.  Possess- 
ing, as  no  man  but  Washington  had  ever  done,  the  confidence  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  Lincoln  was  pre-eminently  fitted  to  soothe  the  humiliated  South 
and  reunite  the  severed  sisterhood  of  States,  But  the  nation  was  to  lose 
him  when  its  need  was  at  the  greatest. 

A  few  days  after  the  fall  of  Richmond,  Mr.  Lincoln  visited  one  of  the 
Washington  theatres.  He  went  with  some  reluctance,  moved  by  the  consid- 
eration that  the  people  expected  him  to  go,  and  would  be  disappointed  by  his 
absence.  As  the  play  went  on,  a  fanatical  adherent  of  the  fallen  Confederacy, 
an  actor  called  Booth,  made  his  way  stealthily  into  the  President's  box.  He 
crept  close  up  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  holding  a  pistol  within  a  few  inches  lodged 
a  bullet  deep  in  the  brain.  The  President  sat  motionless,  save  that  his  head 
sank  down  upon  his  breast.  He  never  regained  consciousness,  but  lingered 
till  morning,  and  then  passed  away. 

Before  dismissing  our  reference  to  the  war  we  may  mention  a  fight  which 
occurred  upon  the  sea. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  1862,  a  strange-looking  craft  appeared  in  Hampton 
Roads.  It  was  the  old  United  States  steamer  Merrimac,  now  in  Confederate 
service,  cut  down  to  the  water's  edge  and  fitted  with  a  sharp  steel  prow  and  a 
sloping  iron-plated  roof.  Steering  direcdy  for  the  sloop-of-war  Cumberland, 
it  so  disabled  her  by  one  blow  of  her  steel  beak  that  she  sank,  with  her  flag 
flying  and  with  all  her  men  on  board. 

The  United  States   frigate  Congress  was   next  attacked.     She  was   run 

o  o 

ashore,  but  the  Merrimac  poured  into  her  such  a  storm  of  shot  and  shell  that 
she  was  forced  to  surrender.  The  new  sea-monster  then  retired  to  Norfolk, 
intending  to  complete  its  work  of  destruction  the  next  day.  Early  in  the 
morning  it  steamed  out  again,  and  approached  the  steam-frigate  Minnesota; 
but  before  it  had  fired  a  gun  a  new  champion  appeared  upon  the  scene. 

It  was  the  iron-clad  Monitor  of  Captain  Ericsson,  which  had  arrived  from 
New  York  during  the  night,  just  in  time  for  its  first  trial  of  strength.  Its  deck 
near  the  surface  of  the  water  was  protected  by  a  heavy  iron  sheathing ;  it  was 
surmounted  by  an  iron  tower,  which,  slowly  revolving,  turned  its  two  enor- 
mous guns  in  every  direction.  The  duel  between  these  odd  antagonists  was 
not  unlike  David  fighting  Goliath,  for  the  Monitor  was  less  than  one-fifth  the 
burden  of  the  Merrimac.     But  the  shot  and  shells  of  the  latter  rolled  harm- 


246 


THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 


JOHK    ERICSSON. 


lessly  off  the  iron  sheathing  of  her  little  opponent,  while  her  huge  beak  passed 
above  the  deck  and  could  not  reach  the  tower.  The  Monitor  glided  nimbly 
away  from  every  charge,  and  found  out  every  weak  spot  in  the  Merrimac's 
armor  where  a  heavy  ball  from  her  guns  could 
make  a  leak,  thus  preventing  her  from  engaging 
any  other  vessel.  The  Merrimac  withdrew  to 
Norfolk  for  repairs.  She  was  blown  up  by  the 
Confederates  two  months  later,  on  the  surrender 
of  Norfolk  to  the  United  States.  The  national 
government  immediately  contracted  with  Cap- 
tain Ericsson  for  a  fleet  of  "  Monitors,"  which 
effectually  defended  the  coast,  and  made  the 
United  States  for  a  time  the  greatest  naval 
power  in  the  world. 

John  Ericsson  was  born  in  1803  in  the  prov- 
ince ofVermeland,  Sweden  ;  and  at  an  early  age 
displayed  great  mechanical  ability.  After  serv- 
ing some  years  as  an  engineer  in  the  Swedish  army  he  went  to  England, 
where  he  introduced  several  important  inventions  which  attracted  great  atten- 
tion and  gained  the  inventor  several  medals  and  prizes.  His  invention  of  the 
propeller  not  being  well  received,  however,  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1839, 
and  two  years  later  built  a  war-steamer,  the  Princeton,  for  the  government, 
which  was  the  first  steamship  ever  built  with  the  propeller  machinery.  This 
vessel  was  also  furnished  with  numerous  other  ingenious  inventions  of  Erics- 
son's, which  have  since  come  into 
common  use.  The  revolving  tur- 
ret, however,  is  the  most  impor- 
tant of  Ericsson's  inventions,  and 
has  caused  a  complete  change  in 
the  naval  architecture  of  the 
world. 

Andrew  Johnson,  the  seven- 
teenth President  of  the  United 
States,  w-as  born  at  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina,  in  1808.  At  the 
age  of  ten  was  apprenticed  to  a 
tailor  in  Raleigh.  Without  a 
single  day's  schooling  he  taught 
himself  to  read.  In  1826  he  re- 
moved with  his  mother  to  Tennessee,  where  he  married  and  settled  in  Green- 
ville. His  wife  taught  him  to  write  and  cipher.  He  was  elected  alderman, 
mayor,  member  of    the   legislature,  and  finally  a   member  of  Congress  in 


ANDREW   JOHNSON. 


THE  UNITED  STATES.  247 

1843-53  ■•  "^^^s  governor  of  Tennessee  from  1853  to  1857,  and  United  States 
senator  from  1857  to  1863.  The  resolute  opponent  of  secession,  he  was  tireless 
in  his  efforts  to  uphold  the  national  cause  during  the  early  stages  of  the 
Rebellion,  and,  on  the  reoccupation  of  Nashville  in  1862,  he  was  appointed  by 
President  Lincoln  military  governor  of  Tennessee;  was  nominated  Vice-Presi- 
dent by  the  Baltimore  convention  of  1864,  and,  on  the  assassination  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  succeeded  him  in  the  presidential  chair.  At  first  he  displayed  a 
spirit  of  much  severity  to  the  rebels,  but  was  afterwards  more  liberal  in  his 
policy,  and  so  hostile  to  the  reconstruction  policy  of  Congress  that  he  was  im- 
peached by  that  body,  tried  and  acquitted  May  26th,  1868 — thirty-five  voting 
him  guilty,  nineteen  voting  not  guilty.  During  his  Presidency  the  submarine 
telegraphic  cable  was  successfully  laid,  and  congratulatory  messages  were  ex- 
changed July  28th,  1866. 

By  the  elections  in  the  autumn  of  1868  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  became 
the  eighteenth  President,  and  Schuyler  Colfax,  of  Indiana,  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant  was  born  in  1822  at  Point  Pleasant,  Clermont  county, 
Ohio,  and  passed  his  boyhood  in  the  neighboring  village  of  Georgetown.  At 
the  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  West  Point,  where  he  graduated  four  years 
later  without  having  distinguished  himself,  being  twenty-first  in  a  class  of 
thirty-nine.  As  a  second  lieutenant  he  was  stationed  on  the  frontier  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Mexican  war.  He  was  in  every  important  batde  of  the 
latter  except  that  of  Buena  Vista,  and  received  the  warmest  praise  from  his 
superior  officers  for  gallant  conduct.  He  was  rewarded  by  brevets  on  two 
occasions.  He  resigned  his  commission  as  captain  in  1854,  and  attempted 
farming  near  St.  Louis.  Not  meeting  with  much  success,  however,  he  ac- 
cepted  a  position  in  his  father's  tannery  at  Galena,  Illinois.  Here  he  lived  in 
comparative  obscurity,  and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  was  entirely 
unknown  to  the  public.  When  President  Lincoln  issued  his  call  for  volunteers 
Grant  organized  and  drilled  a  company  at  Galena,  and  at  the  same  time 
offered  his  services  by  letter  to  the  adjutant-general,  but  was  ignored. 
Marching  his  company  to  Springfield,  Illinois,  he  was  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor to  muster  the  State  volunteers,  and  five  weeks  later  was  made  colonel 
of  a  regiment.  He  first  reported  to  General  Pope,  in  Missouri,  and  shordy 
after,  having  been  appointed  brigadier-general  of  volunteers,  he  was  placed  in 
command  of  the  district  of  south-east  Missouri.  His  first  act  of  importance 
was  the  seizure  of  Paducah,  which  had  great  influence  in  keeping  Kentucky 
in  the  Union ;  and  the  capture  of  Fort  Donelson,  which  followed  soon  after, 
gave  him  a  national  reputation  and  won  him  his  commission  of  piajor-general 
of  volunteers.  His  career  was  now  a  series  of  brilliant  successes,  and  his 
generalship  at  Chattanooga  is  considered  by  military  authorities  as  the  master- 
piece of  the  war.     He  has  been  severely  criticised  for  recklessly  sacnficmg 


248 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


the  lives  of  his  soldiers,  but  without  just  cause  ;  for  although  the  battles  dur- 
ino-  his  advance  on  Richmond  were  unusually  severe  and  costly  to  the  Union 
side,  yet  Grant  felt  that  he  was  pursuing  the  shortest  and  best  course  to  put 
an  end  to  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  and  the  result  proved  the  correctness  of  his 
judgment. 

Grant  was  included  in  the  plot  of  the  conspirators  who  murdered  Lincoln, 
and  probably  escaped  death  through  declining  the  latter's  invitation  to  join  the 
party  at  the  theatre. 

The  years  1S71  and  1872  were  marked  by  several  dreadful  fires.  For  two 
days  Chicago  was  burning — solid  masses  of  stone,  iron,  and  brick  making 
scarcely  more  resistance  to  the  fierce  heat  than  the  lightest  vi^ooden  buildings. 
Nearly  100,000  persons  were  deprived  of  homes;  and  the  property  destroyed 
was  worth  $200,000,000.  About  the  same  time  the  great  lumber-lands  of 
Wisconsin  and  Michigan  were  visited  by  immense  conflagrations.  The  flames 
spread  from  forests  to  villages ;  people  plunged  into  lakes  or  rivers  to  escape 
them,  but  uncounted  hundreds  perished. 

Boston  was  visited  in  November,  1872,  by  a  similar  disaster,  though  with 
less  loss  of  life  and  property.     More  than  sixty  acres,  covered  with  magnifi- 

__  cent    structures    of   granite 

and  brick,  were  laid  in  ashes. 
The  disaster  was  greater 
from  an  epidemic  which  had 
disabled  all  the  horses  in 
Boston,  so  that  the  heavy 
fire-engines  had  to  be  drawn 
by  men. 

Thouofh  the  Qrovernment 
had  pursued  a  conciliatory 
course  to  the  Indians,  a 
hostile  disposition  was  mani- 
fested early  in  1876  by 
the  Sioux  in  Dakota,  Mon- 
tana and  Wyoming.  They 
refused  to  settle  upon  a 
reservation,  and  attacked 
friendly  Indians  under  the 
protection  of  the  United 
INDIAN  CHIEF.  States.      It   was    necessary 

to  reduce  them  by  force.  In  June,  General  Custer,  with  part  of  his  regiment, 
came  upon  the  hostile  Sioux,  2,500  strong,  near  the  Little  Big-Horn  river,  and 
without  waiting  for  support  dashed  upon  them.  His  whole  force  was  over- 
whelmed  and   destroyed,    Custer   himself    being    slain    while   fighting    gal- 


GENERAL.    GRANT. 


(249) 


250 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


lantly.  A  brave,  who  was  in  the  battle,  afterwards  related  how  "  the  White 
Chief,"  when  his  comrades  had  all  fallen  and  his  fire-arms  were  emptied,  un- 
dauntedly defended  himself  with  his  sword  until  a  bullet  laid  him  in  the  dust. 
The  Federal  army,  reinforced,  subsequently  pursued  and  broke  up  the  Sioux, 
and  compelled  most  of  them  to  surrender. 

The  election  of  1876  was  unusually  exciting.  The  candidate  on  the  Re- 
publican side  was  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  of  Ohio,  and  the  candidate  on  the 
Democratic  side  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  of  New  York.  The  contest  was  close,  and 
the  issue  for  some  time  doubtful.  Charges  of  fraud  were  made  by  the  one 
side,  and  intimidation  by  the  other.  From  several  States  two  opposing  cer- 
tificates were  handed  in.  When  Congress  met,  there  was  a  long  debate.  It 
was  agreed  at  last  that  a  commission  consisting  of  five  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  five  senators,  and  five  representatives,  should  hear  the  evidence  and 
decide.  Their  conclusion  was  reached  two  days  before  the  end  of  General 
Grant's  term.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  the  Republicans  had  cast  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  electoral  votes  for  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  of  Ohio ;  the  Demo- 
crats had  cast  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  for  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  of  New  York. 
So  the  vexed  question  was  settled,  and  President  Hayes  was  inaugurated  (the 
4th  being  Sunday)  on  the  5th  of  March,  1877. 

Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes  was  born  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  in  1822.  He 
guaduated  at  Kenyon  College,  in  that  State,  and  after  taking  his  degree  at 

the  Harvard  Law  School,  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  at 
Fremont,  Ohio.  In  1849  he 
moved  to  Cincinnati,  and  soon 
established  a  flourishing  prac- 
tice. He  was  made  major  of  the 
Twenty-third  Ohio  Volunteers  in 
1 861,  and  served  throughout  the 
war.  He  was  badly  wounded  at 
South  Mountain,  and  shortly 
after  was  promoted  to  a  colonel- 
cy. His  gallant  service  in  many 
of  the  hardest  battles  of  the 
army  of  the  Potomac  was  re- 
RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES.  Warded   by  successive  advances 

in  rank,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  Hayes  was  a  brevet  major-general. 
After  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  in  which  he  took  part,  Hayes  was  notified  of 
his  election  to  Congress  from  the  second  district  of  Ohio.  He  resigned  from 
the  army  in  June,  1865,  and  the  following  December  took  his  seat  in  Con- 
gress. He  was  re-elected  in  1866,  but  resigned  his  seat  to  accept  the  gover- 
norship of  Ohio :  the  latter  office  was  held  for  two  successive  terms,  when  he 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


251 


again  became  a  candidate  for  Congress  and  was  defeated.  In  1875  he  re- 
ceived an  unprecedented  honor  in  his  native  State,  being  elected  governor  for 
the  third  time.  His  popularity  in  Ohio,  and  the  stand  taken  by  him  on  the 
issues  at  stake  in  his  last  contest  for  the  governorship,  brought  him  promi- 
nendy  before  the  country,  and  resulted  in  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency 
in  1876. 

Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  who 
was  believed  by  many  to  have  been  actually 
elected,  performed  great  service  to  his  coun- 
try in  the  way  of  political  reform.  Purity  of 
government  seems  to  have  been  dearer  to  \ 
him  than  mere  party  success.  This  is  now 
conceded  by  those  whose  political  views  were 
different  from  his  own. 

His  great  work  in  destroying  the  Tweed 
and  the  Canal  rings  in  New  York  would 
entitle  him  to  a  permanent  place  among  the 
greatest  of  political  reformers,  even  if  his 
prominence  as  a  public-spirited  citizen  for 
fifty  years,  his  devotion  to  important  public 
questions  and  his  discussions  of  great  prin- 
ciples of  law,  finance  and  State  during  that 
long  period  did  not  constitute  an  example  of 
unselfish  and  patriotic  statesmanship  which 
has  been  rarely  equalled  in  our  annals.  In  the  highest  relations  of  public 
life  Mr.  Tilden  has  always  combined  more  nearly,  perhaps,  than  any  of  his 
contemporaries,  the  two  great  kinds  of  quality — theoretic  and  practical — 
which  form  the  true  statesman,  a  profound  understanding  of  the  philosophic 
grounds  of  political  opinion,  and  the  sagacious  tact  and  energy  of  the  man  of 
business.     He  died  August  4th,  1886. 

The  four  years'  term  of  Mr.  Hayes  was  chiefly  remarkable  as  a  period  of 
peace  and  prosperity.  Bounteous  harvests  supplied  an  enormous  export  of 
grain  to  European  markets.  Immigrants  arrived  at  our  ports  in  greater 
numbers  than  ever  before,  and  an  unusual  proportion  of  these  were  indus- 
trious people,  who  were  likely  to  be  an  advantage  rather  than  a  burden  to  the 
(Country.  The  census  taken  in  June,  1880,  showed  the  population  of  the 
United  States  to  be  more  than  fifty  millions. 

The  election  in  the  following  November  resulted  in  the  choice  of  James 
A.  Garfield,  of  Ohio,  to  be  the  twentieth  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  New  York,  to  be  Vice-President.  The  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  the  Presidency  was  General  Winfield  S.  Hancock. 

Not  far  from  Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  November  19th,   1831,  a  very  humble 


SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 


252 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD. 


home  was  brightened  by  the  birth  of  a  son,  now  known  to  the  world  as 
James  Abram  Garfield.  Living  on  the  frontier,  his  early  life  was  one  full 
of  the  struggles  that  accompany  poverty.     On  the  farm  helping  his  mother ; 

at  the  carpenter's  bench ;  on 
the  canal,  he  studied  hard,  read- 
ing all  the  while.  At  eighteen 
years  old  he  was  fitted  to  teach 
country-school,  and  became  a 
popular  teacher.  From  185 1  to 
1854  he  studied  at  Hiram  Insti- 
tute, Ohio,  teaching  in  the  win- 
ter, working  as  a  carpenter,  in 
the  haying  or  harvest  fields,  in 
summer  and  autumn,  keeping  up 
with  his  studies.  He  entered 
Williams  College,  Massachusetts, 
in  1854,  and  graduated  in  1856, 
having  accomplished  his  "  definite 
purpose,"  but  he  was  $500  in  debt.  He  was  soon  elected  president  of  Hiram 
Institute.  His  success  as  an  instructor  was  marked.  While  attending  to  his 
multifarious  duties  as  teacher,  giving  lectures  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects, 
preaching  on  Sundays,  he  began,  in  1857,  the 
study  of  law.  By  the  year  1859  his  strength 
of  mind  and  character,  and  his  ability  as  an 
orator  were  so  well  known,  that  he  was  elect- 
ed to  the  State  senate,  and  immediately 
took  high  rank  as  a  speaker  and  debater. 

While  factional  animosities  were  ranklins: 
in  their  greatest  degree  of  bitterness,  the 
President  was  stricken  down  by  the  assassin 
Guiteau.  He  lay,  alternating  between  life 
and  death,  from  the  2d  of  July  until  the  19th 
of  September,  when  he  died  at  Long  Branch, 
to  which  place  he  had  been  recently  re- 
moved from  Washington.  Upon  the  morn- 
ing of  September  20th,  Vice-President  Ches- 
ter A.  Arthur  took  the  oath  of  office  as 
chief  executive  of  the  United  States,  the 
country  having  been  without  a  President  for  the  space  of  three  hours  and  a  half 
Chester  A.  Arthur,  the  son  of  a  New  Eneland  minister,  was  born  at  Fair- 
field,  Vermont,  in  1830.  Early  in  life  his  father  moved  to  Troy,  New  York, 
and  in  1844  sent  young  Arthur  to  Union  College,  Schenectady,  New  York, 


CHESTER  A.   ARTHUR. 


i 


OENERAU  HANCOCK. 


(253) 


254  THE   (; OLDEN   TREASURY. 

then  under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Eliphalet  Nott,  one  of  ablest  men  in 
his  profession  at  that  time.  He  graduated  in  1848  and,  studying  law, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1850.  During  the  three  or  four  years  follow- 
ing he  confined  himself  strictly  to  his  profession,  winning  some  reputation 
as  an  advocate. 

On  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party  in  1856,  young  Arthur  sup- 
ported Fremont,  and  afterwards  Lincoln,  in  i860.  He  was  appointed  collector 
of  the  port  of  New  York  by  Grant  in  1871,  and  when  his  term  expired  was 
reappointed,  and  the  Senate,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  confirmed  the  appointment 
without  reference  to  a  committee — a  high  and  unusual  compliment.  He  died 
November  iSth,  1886. 

Winfield  Scott  Hancock,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  was 
born  in  Montgomery  county,  Pennsylvania,  February  14th,  1824,  and  died 
February  9th,  1886.  His  mother's  father  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  and 
was  captured  at  sea  and  confined  in  the  Dartmoor  prison,  England.  His 
ereat-erandfather  on  his  mother's  side  was  also  a  soldier  under  Washington 
and  rendered  good  service,  dying  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  from  exposure 
and  hardships  endured  in  the  field.  Hancock's  father  served  in  the  war  of 
181  2,  and  afterwards  became  a  lawyer  of  distinction  in  Montgomery  county, 
Pennsylvania.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  Hancock  was  sent  to  West  Point,  and 
had  for  classmates,  U.  S.  Grant,  George  B.  McClellan,  J.  F.  Reynolds,  J.  L. 
Reno,  Burnside,  Franklin  and  W.  F.  Smith.  He  graduated  in  1844,  June  30th, 
and  in  1845-6  served  with  his  regiment  in  the  Indian  Territory  as  a  second 
lieutenant  of  the  Sixth  Infantry.  In  1847  '^^^  find  him  in  Mexico  and  conspic- 
uous for  his  gallantry  at  the  Natural  Bridge,  San  Antonio,  Contreras,  Chur- 
ubusco,  Molino  del  Rey  and  the  capture  of  the  City  of  Mexico.  He  was 
brevetted  for  gallantry  at  the  battles  of  Contreras  and  Churubusco. 

When  he  heard  of  the  Rebellion  he  took  high  ground  in  favor  of  the  Union, 
and  did  much  in  1861  to  check  the  secession  spirit  then  seizing  upon  the  State 
of  California. 

General  Hancock's  services  on  the  Peninsula  and  at  Antietam  were  as 
brilliant  and  striking  as  those  of  any  of  the  lieutenants  of  the  commanding 
general,  and  for  his  gallantry  at  Chancellorsville  he  was  made  permanent 
commander  of  the  Second  Corps. 

It  was  at  Gettysburg  Hancock  again  loomed  up  before  the  country  as  a 
hero.  He  was  commanding  the  rear-guard  of  .the  army  in  its  advance  on 
Gettysburg,  and  had  reached  Tarrytown,  the  place  where  his  grandfather,  one 
hundred  years  before,  had  started  to  escort  one  thousand  Hessian  prisoners 
of  Burgoyne's  army  to  Valley  Forge,  when  General  Meade  sent  him  an  order 
to  hasten  to  the  front  and  assume  command  of  all  the  troops  there.  It  is  well 
known  that  Gettysburg  might  have  been  a  Confederate  victory,  had  it  not 
have  been  for  Hancock  turnincr  the  tide  in  favor  of  the  Union  forces. 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


We  have  come  now  to  the  late  Democratic  administration.  In  what 
was  forty  years  ago  the  hamlet  and  is  still  the  obscure  town  of  Caldwell, 
Essex   county,  New   Jersey,  there    stands   yet   a   little   two-story-and-a-half 

white  house  with  wooden  shutters,  and  there, 
in  the  year  1837,  was  born  Stephen  Grover 
Cleveland.  His  career  has  been  carelessly 
characterized  as  brief  and  uneventful,  because 
his  name  has  not  been  in  every  man's  mouth 
and  mind  for  a  quarter  of  a  century;  be- 
cause it  has  been  unmarked  by  sensation- 
al episodes  and  is  lacking  in  the  romantic 
incidents  which  make  biography  fascinating ; 
but  if  less  brilliant  and  extravagant  and 
eventful  than  that  of  the  lives  of  some  of 
the  men  who  have  been  President  of  the 
Republic  or  who  have  aspired  to  that  exalted 
i  Station,  the  career  of  Stephen  Grover  Cleve- 
v-  ^'''-"■^  ^y,     „     j>,./f^.^lj    land  is  typical  of  our  time  and  our  country, 

STEPHEN  GROVER  CLEVELAND,  ^ud  lu  its  Comparatively  few  pages  the  youth 
of  our  land  will  find  a  story  of  trial,  struggle  and  triumph,  inspiring  the 
highest  ideals,  illustrating  the  noblest  virtues  and  teaching  the  truest  lessons 
of  the  citizenship  into  which  they  are  born. 

We  have  now  reached  the  period  of  the  present  administration.  On  the 
19th  day  of  June,  1S8S,  the  Republican  National  Convention,  which  met  at 
Chicago,  nominated  Benjamin  Harrison  for  the  presidency,  to  which  office  he 
was  elected  November  6th.  The  Hon.  Levi  Parsons  Morton  was  elected 
Vice-President.  Benjamin  Harrison  comes  of  good  stock  on  both  sides  of 
the  family.  His  mother  was  a  Avoman  of  character  and  ability,  and  his  father 
came  of  a  family  distinguished  for  courage,  patriotism  and  statesmanship. 
The  great-grandfather  was  conspicuous  during  the  revolutionary  period.  He 
voted  for  and  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

President  Harrison  was  born  at  North  Bend,  Ohio,  August  20th,  1833. 
On  October  20th,  1853,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Carrie  W.  Scott,  of  Oxford, 
Ohio.  When  the  war  broke  out  he  recruited  the  Seventieth  Regiment  of  In- 
diana Volunteers.  He  was  a  faithful,  brave,  efficient  commander,  and  did 
valuable  service  in  the  many  battles  in  which  he  was  engaged. 

On  February  15th,  1889,  the  House  of  Representatives  agreed  with  the 
Senate  on  the  admission  of  the  four  new  States  of  Montana,  North  Dakota, 
South  Dakota  and  Washington.  The  bill  was  finally  passed  by  both  Houses 
February  20th,  and  in  the  following  November  these  States  were  all  admitted 
jnto  the  Union. 

The  greatest  disaster  of  which  we  have  any  record  in  the  history  of  Penn- 

255a 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

sylvania  was  the  sweeping  away  of  the  greater  part  of  Johnstown  and  adjoin- 
ing villages  by  the  collapsing  of  the  South  Fork  Dam,  which  had  been  origin- 
ally constructed  to  supply  the  old  State  canal  with  water.  Heavy  rains  had 
filled  the  dam  to  overflowing,  when  suddenly  the  sides  gave  way,  and  an  im- 
mense body  of  water  rushed  down  through  the  thickly  populated  and  narrow 
valley  of  the  Conemaugh.     The  loss  of  life  and  property  was  enormous. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  three  ablest  captains,  Grant,  Sherman  and 


BENJAMIN    HARRISON. 


Sheridan,  who  fought  for  the  Union,  were  born  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  Grant 
died  July  23,  1885,  and  Philip  Henry  Sheridan  died  suddenly  of  heart  disease 
on  Sunday,  August  5th,  1888,  in  his  fifty-eighth  year. 

Sheridan  was  a  resdess  spirit.  His  appetite  for  war  was  not  gone  when 
the  civil  strife  ended.  It  is  known  that  Mexico  and  Canada  alike  fired  his 
active  imagination,  and  that  he  would  have  gone  into  any  movement  where 
he  could  have  been  a  leader. 

An  anecdote  of  his  boyhood  may  not  be  uninteresting  as  showing  how  the 

2556 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  255 

man  is  often  foreshadowed  in  the  boy.  Patrick  McNauly,  Sheridan's  school- 
teacher, tried  to  punish  "  Phil  "  because  some  boy  had  thrown  a  bucket  of 
water  over  him.  But  "  Phil,"  who  saw  that  suspicion  had  fallen  upon  him, 
ran  home,  the  teacher  chasing  him  until  "  Phil's  "  dog,  Rover,  treed  the  teacher 
and  kept  him  there.  He  begged  "  Phil  "  to  call  off  the  dog,  for  it  was  bitter 
cold.     But  the  boy  would  not.     Mr.  Sheridan  at  last  came  out  of  the  house. 

"  Did  you  throw  any  water  upon  your  teacher?  "  inquired  the  father. 

"  No,  sir,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

As  Mr.  Sheridan  had  implicit  confidence  in  the  boy's  veracity  under  all 
circumstances,  he  refused  to  call  off  the  dog  until  the  teacher  had  promised 
not  to  Hck  "  Phil." 

This  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  surrender  to  Sheridan. 

In  the  present  age,  and  more  especially  in  our  own  country,  events  which 
in  an  earlier  period  of  the  world's  history  would  have  occupied  many  years 
now  take  place  in  a  day.  This  was  notably  the  case  in  the  opening  up  of  the 
Oklahoma  lands  in  accordance  with  a  proclamation  by  President  Harrison. 
On  the  morning  of  the  2 2d  of  April,  1889,  Guthrie,  the  capital  of  Oklahoma, 
had  but  twenty  inhabitants ;  and  on  the  night  of  that  same  day  8,000  souls 
slept  there  under  tents  ;  whilst  carpenters  were  at  work  all  around  them. 
Next  day — April  23d — the  sun  shone  upon  hotels,  law-offices,  doctors'  offices, 
shops,  banks,  job-printing  offices,  and  even  gambling-houses,  all  engaged  there 
in  active  business. 

PHYSICAL   FEATURES   OF   NORTH   AMERICA. 

If  we  take  a  glance  at  the  physical  aspect  of  North  America  we  will  find 
that  two  great  mountain  systems  form  the  rocky  framework  of  the  continent. 
The  eastern  or  Appalachian  system,  extending  in  a  direction  nearly  parallel 
with  the  Atlantic  coast,  is  divided  by  several  river-valleys  into  the  White 
mountains  of  New  Hampshire,  the  Green  mountains  of  Vermont,  the  Adi- 
rondacks  of  New  York,  the  Alleghenies  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  the 
Blue  Ridge  and  Cumberland  mountains  of  the  Southern  States.  The  gentle 
slope  and  frequent  divisions  of  these  mountains  permit  the  navigation  of 
many  rivers  far  from  the  sea ;  and  the  two  thousand  miles  of  coast  which  now 
form  the  eastern  and  part  of  the  southern  limit  of  the  United  States,  are 
broken  by  bays,  inlets,  and  fine  harbors,  large  enough  to  shelter  the  shipping 
of  all  the  world. 

The  Cordilleras  of  the  western  part  of  the  continent  form  a  grand  moun- 
tain-system 1,100  miles  across  its  greatest  width,  consisting  of  elevated  table- 
lands cut  by  narrow  canons  and  bounded  by  still  higher  ridges  and  peaks. 
The  coast  range  descends  abruptly  to  the.  Pacific,  and  its  westward-flowing 
rivers  are  short  and  rapid.  It  is  broken  in  the  north  by  the  gorges,  or  dalles, 
of  the  Columbia  river,  and  farther  south  by  San  Francisco  bay,  which  extends 


256 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


SO  far  into  the  interior  as  to  receive  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  rivers  from 
the  eastern  slope. 

On  the  various  elevations  west  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  nearly  all  the  grains 


GIANT  TREES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 


and  fruits  of  the  world  can  be  made  to  grow ;  but  the  date-palm,  most  bounte- 
ous of  the  gifts  of  nature,  has  been  found  best  adapted  to  the  river- valleys  of 
Arizona,     The  greatest  growth  of  the  soil  is  the  gigantic  sequoia  of  California, 

whose  trunk,  twenty  feet  or 
more  in  diameter  near  the 
base,  rises  often  to  a  height 
of  300  feet.  There  are  ten 
groves  of  these  big  trees. 
Some  of  the  trees,  by  actual 
measurements,  have  been 
found  to  be  450  feet  in 
height,  whose  huge  trunks 
measure  1 1 6  feet  in  circum- 
ference. 

North-westward  from  the 
Mississippi  valley  is  a  chain 
of  five  great  lakes,  con- 
taining collectively  nearly 
half  the  fresh  water  in  the 
world.  Before  reaching  the 
last  of  the  lakes,  the  mass 
of  water  plunges  over  a 
precipice  160  feet  in  height, 
making  the  great  cataract  which  is  known  as  the  Falls  of  Niagara. 

Niagara  falls  are  situated  on  the  river  of  the  same  name,  a  strait  connect- 
ing the  floods  of  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  and  dividing  a  portion  of  the  State 


NIAGARA    FALLS. 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


257 


-^^ 


of  New  York  on  the  west  from  the  Province  of  Ontario.     The  cataracts  thus 
lie  within  the  territory  both  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 

Niagara,  in  the  Iroquois  language,  signifies  "Thunder  of  Waters."  The 
waters  for  which  the  Niag- 
ara is  the  outlet  cover  an 
area  of  150,000  square 
miles — floods  so  grand 
and  inexhaustible  that  the 
loss  of  the  hundred  mil- 
lions of  tons  which  they 
pour  every  hour,  through 
succeeding  centuries,  over 
these  stupendous  preci- 
pices is  totally  impercep- 
tible. 

The  Horseshoe  Fall, 
always  marvellous  from 
whatever  position  it  is 
viewed,  forms  the  con- 
necting link  between  the 
scenes  of  the  American 
and  Canadian  sides  of  the 
river.  This  mighty  cata- 
ract is  144  rods  across, 
and  it  is  said  by  Professor 
Lyell,  that  1,500,000,000 
cubic  feet  of  water  pass 
over  its  ledges  every 
hour. 

Gull  Island,  just  above 
the  Horseshoe  Fall,  is  an 
unapproachable  spot  up- 
on which   it   is  not  likely  yosemite  valley. 
that  man  has  ever  yet  stood,  and  it  is  hardly  possible  that  he  can  ever  do  so. 

Three  miles  below  the  falls  on  the  American  side  is  the  Wiiirlpool,  resem- 
bling in  its  appearance  the  celebrated  Maelstrom  on  the  coast  of  Norway. 

The  Yosemite  falls  in  California  are  amongst  the  most  wonderful  in  the 
world.  Yosemite,  in  the  Indian  tongue,  means  "  Large  Grizzly  Bear."  There 
is  first  a  vertical  leap  of  1,500  feet;  then  a  series  of  cascades  down  a  descent 
equal  to  626  feet  perpendicular,  and  then  a  final  plunge  of  400  feet  to  the 
rocks  at  the  base  of  the  precipice.  The  rumble  and  roar  of  the  falls  are  heard 
at  all  times,  but  in  the  quiet  of  the  evening  they  are  so  great  that  it  seems  as 
17 


258 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


if  the  very  earth  were  shaking.  No  falls  in  the  known  world  can  be  com- 
pared with  these  in  height  and  romantic  grandeur.  The  renowned  Staub- 
bach  of  Switzerland  is  greatly  inferior,  both  in  height  and  volume.  There  are 
other  remarkable  falls  in  the  Yosemite  valley.  One,  bearing  the  romantic 
name  of  Bridal  Veil  Fall,  leaps  over  a  cliff  900  feet  high  into  the  valley  be- 
low. ■  The  water,  long  ere  it  reaches  its  rocky  bed,  is  converted  into  mist,  and 
descends  in  a  white  sheet  of  spray.  The  Virgin's  Tears  creek,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  valley,  directly  opposite  the  Bridal  Veil,  makes  a  fine  fall  over 
1,000  feet  high,  inclosed  in  a  deep  recess  of  the  rock.  This  is  a  beautiful 
fall  while  it  lasts,  but  the  stream  which  produces  it  dries  up  early  in  the 
season. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  many  places  which  will  afford  as  grand 
panoramic  views  of  mountain  and  valley  as  can  be  found  in  Switzerland  it- 
self. This  is  notably  so  amongst  the  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania.  Mauch 
Chunk,  for  instance,  is  noted  for  being  situated  in  the  midst  of  some  of  the 
wildest  and  most  picturesque  scenery  in  America,  the  village  lying  in  a  nar- 
row gorge  between  and  among 
high  mountains,  its  foot  rest- 
ing on  the  Lehigh  river  and 
its  body  lying  along  the  hill- 
sides. The  village  is  but  one 
street  wide,  and  the  valley  is 
so  narrow  that  the  dwelling 
houses  usually  have  their  gar- 
dens and  outhouses  perched 
above  the  roof.  Prospect 
Rock  is  a  projecting  bluff  from 
which  a  pleasant  view  may  be 
had  ;  but  the  view  from  Flag- 
staff Peak,  just  above,  is  much 
finer,  and  the  ascent  is  easily 
made.  Glen  Onoko  is  a  wild 
and  beautiful  ravine  on  the  side 
of  Broad  mountain,  about  two 
miles  from  the  village.  It  is 
900  yards  long  and  from  forty 
to  eighty  feet  wide,  and  pre- 
sents a  continuous  succession 
of  cascades,  rapids  and  pools, 
SWITZERLAND  OF  AMERICA.  ^hich  afford  a  fine  spectacle  in 

seasons  of  high  water. 
The  celebrated  "Switch-Back"   railroad,  which  at  one  time   was  used  to 


THE   UNITED    STATES. 


259' 


bring  coal  from  Panther-Creek  valley,  is  now  used  only  as  a  pleasure  road. 
It  is  run  by  gravity.  The  cars  are  drawn  to  the  top  of  Mount  Pisgah  by  a 
powerful  engine  on  the  summit,  whence  they  descend  six  miles,  by  "-ravitv,  to 
the  foot  of  Mount  Jefferson,  where  they  are  again  taken  up  by  means  of  an  in- 
clined plane,  which  ascends  462  feet  in  a  length  of  2,070  feet,  and  then  run  on 
to  Summit  Hill.  From  that  point  the  cars  return,  all  the  way,  by  the  "back- 
track" or  gravity  road,  to  Mauch  Chunk,  landing  the  passengers  but  a  short 
distance  from  the  spot  where  they  commenced  the  ascent  of  Mount  Pisgah. 

Chautauqua  lake,  long  the  pride  of  western  New  York,  and  now  the  ad- 
miration of  the  whole  country,  claims  here  a  word  from  us.  It  lies  700  feet 
above  Lake  Erie,  which  is  but  seven   miles  distant.     It  is  about  twenty  miles 


POINT  CHAUTAUQUA. 


in  length,  and  o.  an  average  depth  of  twenty  feet,  ranging  from  shallows  of 
but  a  few  inches  to  eighty  feet.  Its  banks  are  of  gentle  slope,  stretching  up- 
ward on  every  side  into  a  beautiful  landscape  of  forest  and  field. 

At  Chautauqua,  what  is  known  as  the  Sunday-School  Assembly  was  pro- 
jected by  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  organized  under 
the  auspices  of  the  normal  department  of  the  Sunday-School  Union  of  that 
church. 

With  its  National  Sunday-School  Assembly,  Church  Congress,  Scientific 
Congress  and  temperance  conventions;  with  wise  men  in  control,  and  call- 
ing together  the  best  talent  of  the  nation  to  its  yearly  feasts  of  science  and 
religion  ;  with  its  Park  of  Palestine,  Jewish  Tabernacle,  model  of  Jerusalem 


260 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


oriental  house  and  Great  Pyramid  ;  with  its  book  bazaar  and  museum  ;  with 
Ostrander  and  orientals  in  full  dress,  together  with  Van  Lennap,  the  Turk; 
with  an  auditorium  of  5,000  capacity,  a  pavilion  of  2,000  capacity,  a  children's 
temple  in  amphitheatre  form  to  seat  also  2,000;  with  its  vocal  concerts,  in- 
strumental concerts,  stereopticon  exhibitions,  fire-works,  music  on  the  lake 
and  croquet ;  with  its  cool,  clear  springs,  health-giving  breezes  and  gende 
showers ;  with  boating,  bathing  and  fishing,  and  its  unlimited  go-to-meeting 
privileges — every  day  three  first-class  lectures  or  sermons ;  five  services  for 
Bible-study,  etc.,  etc. — Chautauqua  is  already  a  household  word  in  thousands 
of  American  homes. 

Our  work  would  be  incomplete  did  we  omit  all  reference  to  Mount  Wash- 


TIP-TOP   HOUSE.    MOUNT  ^Ar ASHINGTON. 

ington,  the  loftiest  of  the  White  mountains  in  New  Hampshire.  The  summit, 
6,293  feet  high,  is  an  acre  of  comparatively  level  ground,  on  which  stand  the 
Mount  Washington  Summit  Hotel,  the  old  Tip-Top  House,  the  engine-house 
of  the  railway  and  the  United  States  signal-service  observatory.  At  this  sta- 
tion, which  is  occupied  in  winter,  observers  have  recorded  a  temperature  of 
59°  below  zero,  while  the  wind  blew  with  a  velocity  of  190  miles  an  hour. 
The  range  of  the  thermometer,  even  in  midsummer,  is  from  30°  to  45°. 

The  view  from  Mount  Washington  is  incomparably  grand  ;  but  its  use  as 
being  a  signal-service  station  gives  it  a  special  interest.  The  importance  of 
the  signal  service  calls  for  some  slight  description  of  it. 

The  Signal  Service  is  a  military  organization  which  takes  note  of  the  de- 
velopment and  progress  of  storms  and  other  atmospheric  phenomena,  and 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  261 

which  reports  the  same  to  the  public,  when  not  engaged  in  the  duties  of  war- 
fare. 

The  observers  of  the  signal  corps  are  trained  not  only  in  the  art  and  prac- 
tice of  military  field-signalling,  but  in  the  ordinary  army  drill  and  rules  and 
habits  of  discipline ;  they  constitute  a  part  of  the  regular  military  establish- 
ment of  the  nation,  always  ready  for  active  service.  Occupied  in  time  of 
peace  with  scientific  work  of  acknowledged  value,  the  cost  of  their  mainten- 
ance is  but  a  small  additional  burden  upon  the  country,  fully  requited  by  their 
meteorological  services  to  it.  Experience  has  shown  that  arduous  meteoro- 
logical labors  such  as  they  perform  have  not  been  secured  from  any  civil 
corps.  As  the  signal-service  observers  must  report  several  times  a  day  to 
the  Washington  office,  each  regular  report  serves  in  effect  as  a  telegraphic 
roll-call  of  all  the  stations  spread  over  the  country  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  and  from  the  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  insuring  promptitude,  vigil- 
ance and  steadiness  in  the  entire  signal  corps. 

The  net-work  of  the  signal-service  stations  now  extends  over  the  conti- 
nent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the  intervening  territory 
from  the  Gulf  (including  the  West  Indies)  to  the  Canadian  frontier,  and  is  in 
receipt,  by  comity  of  exchange,  of  daily  telegraphic  intelligence  of  the  weather 
from  the  Canadian  Dominion  and  its  outlying  posts.  These  reports  from  147 
stations  of  observation  are  not  infrequently  concentrated  at  the  central 
office  in  the  space  oi  forty  niiinites.  The  stations  at  which  cautionary  signals 
are  displayed  are  equipped  with  flags,  lanterns,  etc.,  for  exhibiting  the  cau- 
tionary day  or  night  signals,  and  also  for  communicating  with  vessels  of  any 
nationality. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  force  of  military  observers,  there  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  signal  service  on  February  2d,  1874,  at  the  instance  of  Professor 
Joseph  Henry,  secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  the  entire  body  of 
Smithsonian  weather  observers  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 

In  ororanizinCT  the  service  of  simultaneous  weather  observations,  the  first 

o  o 

problem  that  presented  itself  was  to  devise  a  system  of  observations  which 
would,  when  mapped  accurately,  represent  the  aerial  phenomena  at  the  same 
instant  of  time,  and  in  their  actual  relations  to  each  other,  and  thus  enable  the 
investigator  to  discover  the  laws  of  storms  and  their  rates  of  movement  over 
the  earth's  surface.  Certainly  no  solid  foundation  for  the  science  of  the 
weather  could  have  been  laid  in  1870  upon  any  of  the  then  existing  systems. 
The  European  weather  stations  at  that  date,  and  long  after,  were  engaged  in 
making  non-simultaneous  reports  ;  no  two  of  them,  unless  they  happened  to 
be  on  the  same  meridian,  read  off  their  instruments  at  the  same  time. 

The  perfectly  simple  scheme  of  simultaneous  observations  aimed  at  the 
rescue  of  weather  research  from  the  chaos  in  which  for  ages  it  had  lain.  Its 
cardinal  principle  of  observation  is  to  gain  frequent  views  of  the  atmospheric 


262  THE   GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

condition  and  movements  over  the  country  as  they  actually  are,  and  as  they 
would  be  seen,  could  they,  so  to  speak,  be  photographed. 

The  cautionary  storm-signals  which  accompany  the  "  Synopsis  and  Indica- 
tions," issued  to  the  press  three  times  each  day,  constitute  a  very  important 
part  of  the  signal-service  work,  and  it  was  the  possibility  of  preparing  such 
storm-warnings  for  the  benefit  of  navigation  that  originally  gave  the  chief 
stimulus  to  the  establishment  of  a  weather  bureau. 

The  cautionary  signals  are  of  two  kinds:  i.  Those  premonishing  danger- 
ous winds  to  blow  from  any  direction.  2.  Those  premonishing  off-shore 
winds,  likely  to  drive  vessels  out  to  sea.  Both  kinds  are  needed  by  mariners 
as  the  storm-centres  approach  or  depart  from  a  maritime  station.  The  first, 
distinctively  termed  the  "  Cautionary  Signal,"  consists  of  a  red  flag  with  a 
black  square  in  the  centre,  for  warning  in  the  daytime,  and  a  red  light  by 
night.  The  second,  or  "  Cautionary  Off-Shore  Signal,"  consists  of  a  white 
flag  with  black  square  in  the  centre,  shown  above  a  red  flag  with  square  black 
centre  by  day,  or  a  white  light  shown  above  a  red  light  by  night,  indicating 
that,  while  the  storm  has  not  yet  passed  the  station  and  dangerous  winds  may 
yet  be  felt  there,  they  will  probably  be  from  a  northerly  or  westerly  direction ; 
this  second  signal,  when  displayed  in  the  lake  region  in  anticipation  of  high 
north  to  west  winds,  is  designated  the  "  Cautionary  North-west  Signal."  The 
display  of  either  signal,  however,  is  always  intended  to  be  cautionary,  and 
calls  for  great  vigilance  on  the  part  of  vessels  within  sight  of  it. 

LITERATURE. 

The  true  glory  of  a  nation  becomes  manifest  in  its  literature,  and  an  ac- 
count of  our  country  would  be  incomplete  did  we  omit  reference  to  those  of 
our  nation  who  have  shown  the  pen  to  be  still  mightier  than  the  sword.  We 
have  already  alluded  to  the  first  books  published  in  America,  and  will  now 
mention  the  names  of  some  of  our  most  celebrated  authors  whose  works  have 
appeared  since  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake  was  born  in  1795,  and  died  in  1820.  He  was  a 
poet  of  brilliant  promise.  He  was  the  author  of  the  patriotic  poem,  entitled 
"The  American  Flag."  His  genius,  however,  shone  pre-eminent  in  the  im- 
agery of  the  exquisite  fairy  tale,  "The  Culprit  Fay."  This  poem  was  written 
in  three  days,  on  a  wager  laid  between  Cooper  the  novelist,  Halleck  the  poet, 
and  himself 

Fitzgreene  Halleck,  the  friend  of  Drake,  was  also  born  in  1  795.  He  died 
in  1867  ;  but  he  wrote  little  or  nothing  after  1830,  although  before  that  year 
he  had  become  famous.  His  immortal  lyric,  "  Marco  Bozzaris,"  alone  gained 
hmi  literary  celebrity.  Upon  the  death  of  his  brother-poet,  Drake,  he  wrote 
a  beautiful  tribute  to  his  memory,  from  which  we  extract  the  following  lines: 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


26.'! 


"  Green  be  the  turf  above  thee, 
Friend  of  my  better  days  ! 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee. 
None  named  thee  but  to  praise." 

William  Cullen  Bryant,  the  Wordsworth  of  America,  a  native  of  Cum- 
mington,  Massachusetts,  was  born  in  1794.  He  resided  for  over  half  a  cen- 
tury in  New  York  city,  where  he  held  the 
position  of  editor  of  the  Evening  Post.  A 
lover  of  nature,  the  reverence  he  felt  for  her 
is  seen  in  strongly  marked  lines  through- 
out his  writings.  "  Thanatopsis  "  was  writ- 
ten and  delivered  by  the  author,  in  his 
nineteenth  year,  at  a  college  commence- 
ment. His  finest  poems  are  "To  a  Water- 
fowl," "  Death  of  the  Flowers,"  "  Forest 
Hymn,"  "Song  of  the  Stars,"  "The  Plant- 
ing of  the  Apple-Tree,"  "Waiting  by  the 
Gate,"  "Our  Country's  Call"  and  "The 
Flood  of  Years,"  the  last  being  written  at 
the  age  of  eighty-two.  In  1871  he  com- 
pleted a  translation  of  the  "  Iliad  and 
Odyssey "  of  Homer,  upon  which  he  had 
been  encraored  for  six  years.  He  died  in 
187S. 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow,  our  loved  and  revered  poet-laureate,  the 
first  American  author  to  be  honored  with  a  memorial  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
was  born  in  Portland,  Maine,  in  the  year  1807,  "in  an  old  square  wooden 
house  upon  the  edge  of  the  sea."  Graduating  from  Bowdoin  College  in 
1825,  he  was,  four  years  afterwards,  elected  professor  of  modern  languages 
and  literature  in  his  alma  mater,  which  position  he  relinquished  to  accept  a 
similar  one  in  Harvard  in  1835.  His  duties  as  a  "  teacher"  were  varied  by 
occasional  travels  to  Europe,  and  his  writings  are  thus  enriched  with  legen- 
dary, historic  and  biographical  notes.  From  1836  he  resided  in  the  "  Craigie 
House,"  which  was  purchased  for  him  by  his  father-in-law  in  1S43,  the  year 
in  which  he  married  Miss  Appleton.  Mary  Flora  Potter,  his  first  wife,  who 
died  suddenly  at  Rotterdam,  four  years  after  their  marriage,  was  a  daughter 
of  Judge  Potter,  of  Portland,  very  lovely  in  person  and  rarely  gifted  in  mind. 

It  may  be  a  consolation  to  poets  who  receive  litde  for  their  verses  to  know 
that  the  "  Psalin  of  Life  "  first  appeared  in  the  Kmckerbockcr,  and  was  never 
paid  for. 

Longfellow  has  a  fruitful  imagination,  under  the  control  of  the  most  per- 
feet  taste,  and  a  remarkable   power  of  illustrating  moods  of  mind  and  states 


WILLIAM    C.    BRYANT. 


264 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


of  feeling  by  material  forms.  He  has  a  great  command  of  beautiful  diction, 
and  equal  skill  in  the  structure  of  his  verse.  His  poetry  is  marked  by  ten- 
derness of  feeling,  purity  of  sentiment,  elevation  of  thought  and  healthiness 
of  tone.  He  understands  and  can  express  all  the  affections  of  the  human 
heart.  The  happy  delight  in  his  poems ;  and  they  fall  with  soothing  and  sym- 
pathizing touch  upon  those  wlio  have  suffered.     His  readers  are  more  than 

admirers  ;  they  become 
friends.  And  over  all 
that  he  has  written  there 
hangs  a  beautiful  ideal 
light — the  atmosphere 
of  poetry — which  il- 
luminates his  page  as 
the  sunshine  does  the 
natural  landscape. 

Of  his  leading  works 
are  "  Hyperion,"  a  ro- 
mance ;  "  The  Spanish 
Student,  Kavanagh," 
a  tale ;  "  The  Golden 
Itw  Legend,"  "Tales  of  a 
Wayside  Inn,"  "  Outre 
Mer/'"  The  Building  of 
the  Ship,"  "The  Day 
is  Done,"  "  Morituri 
Salutamus,"  "Hia- 

watha,"    "  Miles    Stan- 
dish,"       "  Flower       de 
Luce,"  "  New  England 
Tragedies,"  "Wreck  of 
the   Hesperus,"    "  Paul 
Reveres  Ride,"  "Chil- 
dren's Hour,"  "Village  Blacksmith,"  "  The  Divine  Tragedy,"  "Translation  of 
Dante's  Divina  Commedia,"  and  "  Michael  Aneelo,"  a  drama. 
Longfellow  died  in  1882. 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  M.  D.,  was  born  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
August  29th,  1809,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1829,  and  com- 
menced the  practice  of  medicine  in  Boston  in  1836.  He  has  been  for  many 
years  one  of  the  professors  in  the  medical  department  of  Harvard  College, 
and  he  is  understood  to  be  highly  skilful,  both  in  the  theory  and  practice  of 
his  profession.  He  began  to  write  poetry  at  quite  an  early  age.  His  longest 
productions  are  occasional  poems  which  have  been  recited  before  literary  so- 


HENRY    W.    LONGFELLOW. 


THE   UNITED    STATES.  265 

cieties,  and  received  with  very  great  favor.  His  style  is  brilliant,  sparklino- 
and  terse  ;  and  many  of  his  heroic  stanzas  remind  us  of  the  point  and  con- 
densation of  Pope.  In  his  shorter  poems  he  is  sometimes  grave,  and  some- 
times gay.  When  in  the  former  mood,  he  charms  us  by  his  truth  and  manli- 
ness of  feeling,  and  his  sweetness  of  sentiment ;  when  in  the  latter,  he  de- 
lights us  with  the  glance  and  play  of  the  wildest  wit  and  the  richest  humor. 
Everything  that  he  writes  is  carefully  finished,  and  rests  on  a  basis  of  sound 
sense  and  shrewd  observation.  Dr.  Holmes  also  enjoys  high  reputation  and 
wide  popularity  as  a  prose  writer.  He  is  the  author  of  "The  Autocrat  of  the 
Breakfast  Table,"  "  The  Professor  at  the  Breakfast  Table  "  and  "  Elsie  Ven- 
ner,"  w-orks  of  fiction  which  originally  appeared  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  Mag- 
azine, and  of  various  occasional  discourses. 

The  following  extracts  are  very  characteristic  of  Holmes : 

"  Day  hath  put  on  his  jacket,  and  around 
His  burning  bosom  buttoned  it  with  stars." — Evening — by  a  Tailor. 

"  Give  us  men  !  A  time  like  this  demands 
Great  hearts,  strong  arms,  true  faith  and  willing  hands. 
Men,  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill ; 
Men,  whom  the  spoils  of  office  can  not  buy; 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will ; 
Men  who  have  honor,  men  who  will  not  lie ; 
For  while  the  rabble,  with  their  thumb-worn  creeds, 
Their  large  professions  and  their  little  deeds. 
Wrangle  in  selfish  strife — lo !   Freedom  weeps. 
Wrong  rules  the  land,  and  waiting  justice  sleeps." — Give  Us  Men. 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  in  1808. 
He  has  written  much  in  prose  and  verse ;  and  his  writings  are  characterized 
by  earnestness  of  tone,  high  moral  purpose  and  energy  of  expression.  His 
spirit  is  that  of  a  sincere  and  fearless  reformer ;  and  his  fervent  appeals  are 
the  true  utterances  of  a  brave  and  loving  heart.  The  themes  of  his  poetry 
have  been  drawn,  in  a  great  measure,  from  the  history,  traditions,  manners 
and  scenery  of  New  England  ;  and  he  has  found  the  elements  of  poetical  in- 
terest among  them  without  doing  any  violence  to  truth.  He  describes  nat- 
ural scenery  correctly  and  beautifully  ;  and  a  vein  of  genuine  tenderness  runs 
through  his  writings.  We  subjoin  a  poem  of  Whittier's,  because  it  is  only  in 
our  country  that  the  verses  are  applicable. 

"The  Poor  Voter  on  Election  D.\y. 


"  Tiie  proudest  now  is  but  my  peer, 
The  highest  not  more  high  ; 
To-day,  of  all  the  weary  year, 
A  king  of  men  am  I. 


To-day,  alike  are  great  and  small 
The  nameless  and  the  known  ; 

My  palace  is  the  people's  hall, 
The  ballot-box  mv  throne ! 


266 


THE   C.OLDEN    TREASURY. 


"Who  serves  to-day  upon  the  Hst 

Beside  the  served  shall  stand ; 
Alike  the  brown  and  wrinkled  fist, 

The  £;loved  and  dainty  hand ! 
The  rich  is  level  with  the  poor, 

The  weak  is  strong  to-day ; 
And  sleekest  broadcloth  counts  no  more 

Than  homespun  frock  of  gra)-. 

"  To-day  let  pomp  and  vain  pretence 
My  stubborn  right  abide  ; 
I  set  a  plain  man's  common-sense 
Against  the  pedant's  pride. 


To-day  shall  simple  manhood  try 
The  strength  of  gold  and  land ; 

The  wide  world  has  not  wealth  to  buy 
The  power  in  my  right  hand ! 

"  While  there's  a  grief  to  seek  redress. 

Or  balance  to  adjust, 
Where  weighs  our  living  manhood  less 

Than  Mammon's  vilest  dust — 
W^iile  there's  a  right  to  need  my  \ote, 

A  wrong  to  sweep  away. 
Up !  clouted  knee  and  ragged  coat ! 

A  man's  a  man  to-day  !  " 


Edgar  Allan  Poe  ( 1 809-1 849),  "  the  poet  ot  morbid  anatomy,"  was  born 
in  Boston,  and  died  in  Baltimore,  where,  after  life's  fitful  fever,  he  sleeps 
well.  The  victim  of  melancholia,  a  morbid  disposition,  and  an  insatiate  thirst 
for  intoxicants,  in  rebellion  against  a  world  that  misunderstood  the  man  and 
has  attempted  to  falsify  the  reputation  of  one  with  whom  "  poetry  was  not  a 
purpose,  but  a  passion,"  his  life  displayed  some  irregularities,  though  it  is  on 
record  by  one  who,  from  business  association,  had  every  opportunity  of  es- 
timating his  character,  that  he  was  " a  winning  and  well-mannered  gentle- 
man." His  first  literary  production,  "Al  Aaraaf  and  Minor  Poems,"  was  un- 
successful. This  was  followed  by  "The  Narrative  of  Arthur  Gordon  Payne," 
and  the  weird  and  powerful  romances  that  bear  the  impress  of  a  master-rnind, 
of  "The  Mystery  of  Mary  Roget,"  "The  Murders  of  the  Rue  Morgue,"  "The 
Gold  Bug,"  "The  Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher,"  and  the  poems  "The  Raven," 
"The  Bells,"  "  Ulalume,"  "The  Haunted  Palace"  and  "Annabel  Lee." 

Suffering  induced  by  Poe's  dissipated  habits  brought  his  wife  to  an  early 
grave,  and  he  wrote  of  his  loss  in  some  very  musical  lines : 

"  The  moon  never  beams  without  bringing  me  dreams 

Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee; 
And  the  stars  never  rise,  but  I  feel  the  bright  eyes " 

Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee. 
And  so,  all  the  night-tide  I  lie  down  by  the  side 
Of  my  darling,  my  darling,  my  life  and  my  bride, 

In  her  sepulchre  there  by  the  sea — 

In  her  tomb  by  the  sounding  sea." 

John  Howard  Payne,  the  sixth  of  nine  children,  was  born  in  New  York, 
June  Qth,  1792.  He  came  of  a  family  of  conspicuous  literary  ability  and  of 
gentie  breeding.  Robert  Treat  Payne,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration,  and 
Robert  Treat  Payne,  Jr.,  were  of  the  same  family.  Miss  Dolly  Payne,  also, 
who  became  the  wife  of  President  Madison,  was  his  kinswoman. 


THE    UNITED   STATES.  267 

Payne  was  the  author  of  some  noble  and  lasting  literary  work  in  his  day 

one  of  the  grandest  of  heroic  tragedies  now  played,  "  Brutus,  or  the  Fall  of 
Tarquin,"  being  from  his  pen.  He  was  both  in  America  and  England  recocr- 
nized  as  an  actor  of  advancing  reputation,  and  as  an  author  of  merit.  In  one 
of  his  plays  he  introduced  the  song  of  "Home,  sweet  Home."  The  sono-  at 
once  became  popular.  In  less  than  a  year  100,000  copies  were  sold  by  a 
publisher  who  did  not  even  put  Payne's  name  on  the  title-page.  As  this  soncr 
is,  and  always  will  be,  a  favorite  wherever  the  English  languge  is  spoken,  we 
give  the  words  as  they  appear  in  Payne's  original  manuscript. 

'■  'Mid  pleasures  and  palaces  though  we  may  roam, 
Be  it  e\'er  so  humble,  there's  no  place  like  home ! 
A  charm  from  the  sky  seems  to  hallow  us  there, 
Which,  seek  through  the  world,  is  ne'er  met  with  elsewhere ! 

Home,  home,  sweet,  sweet  home ! 

There's  no  place  like  home  ! 

There's  no  place  like  home  ! 

'•     "An  exile  from  home,  splendor  dazzles  in  vain ; 
O  give  me  my  lowly  thatched  cottage  again ! 
The  birds,  singing  gayly,  that  came  at  my  call. 
Give  me  them — and  the  peace  dearer  than  all ! 

Home,  home,  sweet,  sweet  home ! 

There's  no  place  like  home ! 

There's  no  place  like  home  I  " 

There  are  two  of  the  original  verses  which  are  now  commonly  omitted, 
but  as  they  appear  to  express  the  poet's  own  personal  feelings  in  regard  to 
himself  as  being  a  wanderer  from  his  native  land,  we  think  it  well  to  give 
them  here. 

"To  us,  m  despite  of  the  absence  of  years,- 
How  sweet  the  remembrance  of  home  still  appears! 
From  allurements  abroad,  which  flatter  the  eye, 
The-  unsatisfied  heart  turns,  and  says,  with  a  sigh, 

'  Home,  home — sweet,  sweet  home. 
There's  no  place  like  liome — there's  no  place  like  home!' 

"  Your  e.\ile  is  blessed  with  all  fate  can  bestow. 
But  mine  has  been  checkered  with  many  a  woe ; 
Yet,  though  different  our  fortunes,  our  thoughts  are  the  same 
And  both,  as  we  think  of  Columbia,  exclaim, 

'  Home,  home — sweet,  sweet  home. 
There's  no  place  like  home — there's  no  place  like  home ! '  " 

Payne  was  appointed  American  consul  at  Tunis  in  1S42,  and  sailed  thither 
the  year  following. 


268  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

[  From  Tunis,  Payne  was  recalled  in  1845.  He  was  reappointed  in  185 1.  In 
April  he  sailed  from  New  York,  and  he  died  in  Tunis,  June,  1S52,  in  his  six- 
tieth year.  The  United  States  government  caused  a  marble  slab  to  be  placed 
at  his  grave,  which  bears  the  following  inscription  : 

In  memory  of 

Colonel  John  Howard  Payne, 

Twice  Consul  of  the  United  States  of  America  to  the  Kingdom 

of  Tunis, 
This  stone  is  placed  here  b>'  a  grateful  country. 

The  slab  has  also  engraven  on  it  these  lines,  written  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Chilton: 

"  Sure,  when  thy  gentle  spirit  fled 

To  realms  beyond  the  azure  dome, 
With  arms  outstretched  God's  angels  said, 

'  Welcome  to  heaven,  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."  '  " 


BIRTHPLACE    OF   JOHN    HuVVAHU    PAYNE. 


In  1883,  the  remains  of  Payne  were  brought  to  Washington,  and  on  June 
9th,  the  ninety-first  anniversary  of  the  poet's  birth,  were  buried  with  appro- 
priate ceremonies  in  Oak  Hill  Cemetery,  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia. 

The  following  verses  were  written  by  Will  Carleton,  on  the  removal  of  the 
remains  of  John  Howard  Payne  to  this  country: 

"  The  banishment  was  overlong. 

But  it  will  soon  be  past ; 
The  man  who  wrote  Home's  sweetest  song 

Is  coming  home  at  last ! 
For  years  his  poor  abode  was  seen 

In  foreign  lands  alone, 
And  waves  have  thundered  loud  between 

This  singer  and  his  own. 


THE    UNITED   STATES.  269 

But  he  will  soon  be  journeying 

To  friends  across  the  sea ; 
And  grander  than  of  any  king 

His  welcome  here  shall  be." — Coining  Home  at  Last. 

Carleton  was  born  in  1845,  and  in  1869  graduated  at  Hillsdale  College, 
and  then  entered  the  journalistic  profession,  to  which  he  still  belono-s.  He  is 
the  author  of  "  Betsey  and  I  are  out,"  "  Over  the  Hills  to  the  Poor-House,"  and 
other  well-known  ballads. 

Space  will  not  permit  our  dwelling  upon  many  other  worthy  names  in 
poetry.  Bayard  Taylor  was  alike  eminent  as  a  poet,  novelist,  and  traveller. 
Read  won  fame  both  with  brush  and  pen.  Boker  is  a  lyric  and  dramatic 
writer  of  great  excellence,  and  has  represented  the  United  States  at  Constan- 
tinople and  St.  Petersburg.  Bret  Harte  has  given  us  some  able  dialect 
poetry,  and  Walt  Whitman  has  shown  remarkable  originality.  Nor  ought 
we  to  omit  Alice  Carey,  who  was  born  in  1820  and  died  in  i87i,and  who  was 
the  greatest  female  genius  that  our  country  has  produced,  was  born  at  Mount 
Healthy,  near  Cincinnati,  and  died  at  her  home  in  New  York  City.  Contribut- 
ing verses  to  the  Cincinnati  press  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  which  were  well 
received,  she  first  attracted  attention  by  a  series  of  sketches  of  rural  life. 
Removing  with  her  sister  Phoebe  (1824-1871)  to  New  York,  the  two 
issued  a  volume  of  poems.  She  wrote  "  Married,  not  Mated,"  and  "  Holly- 
wood," novels;  "Pictures  of  Country  Life,"  "The  Bridal  Veil,"  "Thanks- 
giving," "  Krumley,"  "The  Bishop's  Son,"  and  "Snow  Berries." 

Phoebe  Carey  wrote  many  beautiful  poems,  such  as  "  Nearer  Home,"  and, 
among  other  amusing  parodies,  one  on  the  "  Psalm  of  Life." 

If  we  turn  to  prose  we  will  find  names  equal  in  ability  to  those  mentioned 
in  poetry. 

Washington  Irving,  the  most  popular  of  American  authors,  and  one  of  the 
most  popular  writers  in  the  English  language  during  his  time,  was  born  in 
New  York,  April  8th,  1783,  and  died  November  28th,  1859.  His  numerous 
works  are  too  well  known  to  need  enumeration;  and  his  countrymen  are  so 
familiar  with  the  graces  of  his  style  and  the  charm  of  his  delightful  genius, 
that  any  extended  criticism  would  be  superfluous.  His  writings  are  remark- 
able for  their  combination  of  rich  and  original  humor  with  great  refinement 
of  feeling  and  delicacy  of  sentiment.  His  humor  is  unstained  by  coarseness, 
and  his  sentiment  is  neither  mawkish  nor  morbid.  His  style  is  carefully 
finished,  and  in  his  most  elaborate  productions  the  uniform  music  of  his  ca- 
dences approaches  monotony.  He  is  an  accurate  observer,  and  his  descrip- 
tions are  correct,  animated  and  beautiful.  In  his  biographical  and  historical 
works  his  style  is  flowing,  easy  and  transparent.  His  personal  character  was 
affectionate  and  amiable,  and  these  traits  penetrate  his  writings  and  constitute 
no  small  portion  of  their  charm.     Few  writers  have  ever  awakened  in  their 


270  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

readers  a  stronger  personal  interest  than  Irving ;  and  the  sternest  critic  could 
not  deal  harshly  with  an  author  who  showed  himself  to  be  so  gende  and  kindly 
a  man. 

James  Fennimore  Cooper,  the  author  of  "  The  Spy,"  "  The  Pilot," 
"Leather-stocking  Tales,"  etc.,  was  born  at  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  on  the 
15th  of  December,  1789.  The  distinguished  novelist  was  also  author  of  the 
"History  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States."     He  died  in  1851. 

William  EUery  Channing  was  born  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  April  7th, 
1780,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1798,  and  died  October  2d,  1842. 

Dr.  Channing's  style  is  admirably  suited  for  the  exposition  of  moral  and 
spiritual  truth.  It  is  rich,  flowing  and  perspicuous  ;  even  its  diffuseness,  which 
is  its  obvious  literary  defect,  is  no  disadvantage  in  this  aspect.  There  is  a 
persuasive  charm  over  all  his  writings,  flowing  from  his  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose, his  deep  love  of  iiumanity,  his  glowing  hopes  and  his  fervent  religious 
faith. 

William  Hickling  Prescott  was  born  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  May  4th, 
1796,  and  died  in  Boston,  January  28th,  1859.  His  grandfather  was  Colonel 
William  Prescott,  who  commanded  in  the  redoubt  at  Bunker  Hill.  He  is  the 
author  of  four  historical  works — "The  History  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,"  "  The  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,"  "  The  History  of 
the  Conquest  of  Peru"  and  "The  History  of  the  Reign  of  Philip  the 
Second ;  "  which  last  was  left  unfinished  at  the  time  of  his  death.  These  are 
all  productions  of  great  merit,  and  have  received  the  highest  commendations 
at  home  and  abroad.  Among  their  most  conspicuous  excellences  may  be  men- 
tioned their  thoroughness  of  investigation  and  research.  Mr.  Prescott  ex- 
amined,  with  untiring  industry,  all  possible  sources  of  information,  whether  in 
print  or  in  manuscript,  which  could  throw  light  upon  the  subjects  of  which  he 
treated.  This  was  the  more  honorable  to  him,  as,  in  consequence  of  an  acci- 
dent in  college,  he  was  deprived,  to  a  considerable  degree,  of  the  use  of  his 
eyes,  and  was  constantly  obliged  to  make  use  of  the  sight  of  others  in  prose- 
cuting his  studies. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  the  sage  of  Concord,  was  born  in  Boston,  in  1803, 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1821,  taught  for  a  short  time,  ministered  thought 
to  a  congregation  for  three  years  in  his  native  city,  and  then  retired  to  the 
classic  town,  where  he  lived  till  the  end,  only  varying  the  studious  retirement 
of  his  life  by  lecturing  in  this  country  and  abroad.  His  writings  are  observ- 
ant and  speculative ;  display  a  quaintness  of  language  and  a  philosophic 
taste  and  power  that  has  made  a  vivid  impression  upon  the  literature  of  the 
nineteenth  century.     He  died  in  1882. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  June  24th,  1813, 
graduated  at  Amherst  College  in  1834,  studied  theology  under  his  father,  the 
Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  and  from  1847  until  his  death    (March  8th,  1887)  was 


THE    UNITED   STATES.  271 

pastor  of  the  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn,  New  York.  As  a  lecturer  he 
enjoyed  an  unrivalled  popularity,  earned  by  the  happy  combination  of  humor, 
pathos,  earnestness  and  genial  sympathy  with  humanity,  which  his  discourses 
present.  He  was  a  man  of  great  energ)^  of  temperament,  fervendy  opposed 
to  every  form  of  oppression  and  injustice,  and  with  a  poet's  love  of  nature. 
His  style  was  rich,  glowing  and  abundant. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  was  born  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  in  1812;  but 
resided  for  several  years,  with  her  husband,  Professor  Stowe.  at  Mandarin, 
on  the  -St.  John's  river,  Florida.  Her  fame  was  established  by  the  pub- 
lication of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  (in  1852),  the  most  widely  read  book  ever 
written  in  America. 

In  George  Bancroft  and  John  Lothrop  Motley  we  have  historians  whose 
reputation  worthily  reaches  wherever  the  English  language  is  read. 

THE    FINE    ARTS. 

In  the  oreneration  which  immediatelv  succeeded  the  American  Revolution, 
there  was  very  little  devotion  to  art.  The  adjustment  of  commercial  and  po- 
litical relations  at  home  and  abroad,  naturally  required  all  the  energies  of  the 
people.  In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  however,  the  art  principle  began  to 
develop  itself  side  by  side  with  literature.  Still  at  no  time  was  there  a  total 
lack  of  tendency  towards  pictorial  representation. 

If  we  take  into  account  all  the  drawbacks  incident  to  a  new  country 
which  the  study  of  art  necessarily  meets  with,  we  will  find  that  its  progress  in 
the  United  States  has  been  wonderfully  rapid.  There  are  branches  of  art 
unknown  in  ancient  times,  whicli  have  attained  remarkable  development  with- 
in the  present  century.  And  in  engraving,  and  the  illustration  of  books  and 
periodicals,  the  palm  of  superiority  has  been  freely  conceded  to  American  ar- 
tists by  the  critics  in  the  art  centres  of  the  old  world.  Indeed,  it  is  those 
branches  of  pictorial  art  which  conduce  to  the  education,  the  comfort  and 
even  luxury  of  universal  mankind,  which  it  has  been  the  mission  of  the  great 
Republic  to  bring  to  perfection,  as  it  has  been  in  corresponding  branches  of 
science  and  mechanical  invention.  Its  w^ork  in  art  as  in  science  has  been  for 
the  good  of  the  many,  and  not,  as  in  the  old  world,  mainly  for  the  benefit  of 
the  few,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  strides  it  has  made  in  chromolithography,  which 
has  made  the  works  of  the  world's  most  eminent  artists  familiar  to  the  com- 
monest and  poorest. 

But  even  in  the  arts  of  painting  and  sculpture  America  has  been  produc- 
tive of  great  names.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  mention  the  names  of  West, 
Allston,  Church,  Leslie,  Weir,  Bierstadt,  Cole,  Rothermel,  Hamilton  and 
Moran  in  painting;  Greenough,  Powers  and  Harriet  Hosmer  in  sculpture,  as 
evidence  that  the  highest  order  of  genius  in  art  can  exist  side  by  side  with 
the  rhost  unwearied  industry  in  commerce  and  manufactures. 


272  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

In  the  kindred  art  of  music,  the  United  States  has  also  been  a  benefactor 
to  the  world.  The  compositions  of  Bliss  and  Sankey  in  sacred  music ;  and  of 
Stephen  Foster  in  his  plaintive  negro  melodies,  are  the  delight  of  many  homes 
in  the  old  world,  as  well  as  homes  in  the  New. 

But  it  is  inventive  talent  by  which  Americans  are  most  distinguished. 
The  inventive  genius  which  the  subduing  of  a  great,  wild  continent  first  called 
into  action  has  been  only  heightened  by  prosperity.  The  soil  of  South  Africa, 
Australia  and  Japan  is  turned  by  American  plows,  and  their  harvests  are 
gathered  by  American  mowers  and  reapers ;  fires  in  European  cities  are  ex- 
tinguished by  American  steam  fire-engines ;  American  palace-cars  roll  over 
European  railways  ;  and  American  steam-boats  ply  on  the  Rhine,  the  Danube, 
and  the  Bosphorus,  Great  London  newspapers  are  printed  on  the  type-re- 
volving press  invented  by  Richard  Hoe,  of  New  York. 

Viewing  then  the  rapid  progress,  vast  extent,  and  present  prosperity  of 
our  country,  well  might  our  poet-laureate  Longfellow  sing: 

"  Thou,  too,  sail  on,  O  Ship  of  State ! 
Sail  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great! 
Humanity,  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate  ! 
We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 
What  Workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 
Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat 
In  what  a  forge,  and  what  a  heat, 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope. 

"  Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea  ! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes  are  all  with  thee. 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears^ 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee — are  all  with  thee." 


GRAND   CANAL,    VENICE. 


ITALY. 


!HE  limits  of  the  Italian  peninsula  have  been  most  distinctly 
^  traced  by  nature.  The  Alps,  which  bound  it  on  the  north, 
from  the  promontories  of  Liguria  to  the  mountainous  penin- 
sula of  Istria,  present  themselves  like  a  huge  wall,  the  only 
breaches  in  which  are  formed  by  passes  situated  high  up  in 
the  zones  of  pines,  pastures,  or  eternal  snows.  Its  delightful 
climate,  beauteous  skies  and  fertile  fields  distinguish  it  in  a 
narked  manner  from  countries  lying  beyond  the  Alps. 

For  nearly  two  thousand  years  Italy  remained  the  centre  of  the  civilized 
vorld.  Two  of  the  greatest  events  in  history,  the  uniting  of  the  Mediterra- 
lean  world  under  the  laws  of  Rome,  and  at  a  later  age  the  regeneration  of 
he  human  mind,  to  which  the  term  "  renaissance  "  has  been  given,  originated 
n  Italy. 

1  There  is  no  other  country  in  the  world  which  can  boast  of  an  equal  num- 
'er  of  cities  remarkable  on  account  of  their  buildings,  statues,  paintings  and 
ecorations  of  every  kind.  There  are  provinces  where  every  village,  every 
roup  of  houses  even,  delights  the  eye  eitiier  by  a  fresco  painting  or  a  work 
f  the  sculptor's  chisel,  a  bold  staircase  or  picturesque  balcony. 
Italy  owes  the  rank  it  has  held  for  more  than  two  thousand  years  not 
18  (:iV3) 


274  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

merely  to  its  monuments  and  works  of  art,  which  attract  students  from  the 
extremities  of  the  earth,  but  also  to  its  historical  associations.  Every  fortress, 
every  country  house,  marks  the  site  of  some  ancient  citadel,  or  of  the  villa  of 
a  Roman  patrician  ;  churches  have  replaced  the  ancient  temples,  and  though 
the  religious  rites  have  changed,  the  altars  of  gods  and  saints  arise  anew  on 
the  spots  consecrated  of  old. 

The  Italian  is  the  most  richly  endowed  of  all  the  European  nations.  When 
we  look  to  the  splendid  achievements  of  this  race  in  all  its  subdivisions — to  the 
artists,  authors,  soldiers,  natural  philosophers,  and  civil  engineers,  which  the 
peninsula  has  produced — we  other  peoples  are  compelled  to  bow  our  h'eads 
before  them  in  every  department  of  intellectual  exertion. 

ROME. 

Rome,  the  most  celebrated  of  European  cities,  famous  in  both  ancient  and 
modern  history,  formerly  for  being  the  most  powerful  nation  of  antiquity,  and 
afterward  the  ecclesiastical  capital  of  Christendom  and  the  residence  of  the 
pope,  and  since  1871  the  capital  of  United  Italy  and  the  residence  of  the  king, 
is  situated  on  both  banks  of  the  Tiber,  about  sixteen  miles  from  its  mouth. 

The  earliest  history  of  Rome  is  legendary,  or  to  some  extent  fabulous, 
with  a  basis  of  historical  truth.  It  is  said  that  Rhea  Silvia,  a  female  de- 
scendant of  yEneas,  one  of  the  Trojan  heroes,  was  compelled  by  her  uncle  to 
become  a  vestal  virgin,  whereby  she  was  obliged  to  remain  unmarried.  But 
by  the  god  Mars  she  became  the  mother  of  twin  sons,  Romulus  and  Remus. 
Thereupon  her  uncle  caused  her  to  be  killed,  and  her  infants  to  be  thrown 
into  the  river  Tiber.  The  river  at  the  time  happened  to  have  overflowed  its 
banks,  so  that  after  a  short  time,  when  the  waters  subsided,  the  basket  con- 
taining the  babes  remained  standing  on  dry  land.  There  they  were  suckled 
by  a  she-wolf  and  fed  by  a  woodpecker,  until  they  were  found  by  a  shepherd, 
who  took  them  to  his  wife. 

When  the  boys  had  grown  up  to  manhood  they  resolved  to  build  a  town 
near  the  spot  where  they  had  been  saved.  When  the  new  town  was  finished, 
a  dispute  arose  as  to  which  of  the  two  brothers  should  give  it  its  name  ;  from 
words  it  came  to  blows,  and  Romulus  slew  his  brother.  In  order  to  increase 
the  number  of  inhabitants,  Romulus  opened  an  asylum,  inviting  all  to 
come  and  settle  in  the  new  place.  Vagabonds  of  every  description  came,  and 
all  were  welcome.  But  as  there  were  no  women  among  them,  the  population 
would  soon  have  died  out,  and  in  order  to  prevent  this  Romulus  applied  to 
the  neighboring  communities  of  Latins  and  Sabines  to  obtain  wives  for  his 
subjects.  This  request  was  scornfully  rejected,  and  Romulus  then  resolved  to 
obtain  by  a  cunning  device  what  had  been  refused  to  his  fair  demand.  He 
invited  the  neighboring  tribes  to  a  festival  to  be  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  god 
Neptune;   and  while  the  strangers  were  witnessing  the  games,  the   Romans 


ITALY.  275 

suddenly  seized  their  daughters  and  carried  them  by  force  to  their  homes. 
To  ave'nge  this  outrage,  the  Latins  and  Sabines  took  up  arms  against  Rome. 
The  former  were  easily  defeated,  but  during  the  heat  of  the  fight  with  the  Sa- 
bines, the  Sabine  women  threw  themselves  between  the  combatants,  implorinji- 
them  to  desist  from  destroying  one  another,  and  declared  themselves  willing 
to  remain  with  their  new  husbands. 

After  the  death  of  Romulus,  a  whole  year  passed  away  without  a  succes- 
sor being  elected,  and  in  the  meantime  the  government  was  conducted  by  the 
senate.  At  length  the  Ramnes  or  Romans  chose  from  among  the  Sabines 
Numa  Pompilius,  of  Cures,  a  man  renowned  for  his  piety  and  wisdom.  The 
legend  represents  him  as  the  founder  of  all  the  great  religious  institutions, 
just  as  Romulus  is  described  as  the  author  of  the  political  organization  of  the 
state.  Numa's  reign  was  a  period  of  uninterrupted  peace,  during  which  the 
people  were  engaged  in  the  peaceful  pursuit  of  agriculture  and  in  the  worship 
of  the  gods.  In  all  he  did  the  king  was  supported  by  the  counsels  of  the 
nymph  Egeria,  with  whom  he  had  interviews  in  a  sacred  grove  near  Aricia. 

After  the  death  of  Numa  Pompilius  the  Romans  chose  Tullus  Hostilius  for 
their  king.  His  reign,  extending  from  b.  c.  672  to  640,  is  described  as  the 
very  opposite  of  that  of  Numa,  for  he  is  said  to  have  neglected  the  worship 
of  the  gods  and  to  have  been  engaged  in  perpetual  wars  with  his  neighbors. 
The  first  of  these  wars  was  waged  against  Alba  Longa,  in  consequence  of 
certain  acts  of  violence  for  which  reparation  was  refused  by  that  city.  The 
contest  between  the  two  little  states  remained  for  a  long  time  undecided,  until 
at  length  the  commanders  arranged  that  the  dispute  should  be  determined  by 
a  combat  of  three  Roman  brothers,  called  the  Horatii,  with  three  Alban 
brothers  called  the  Curiatii,  who  happened  to  be  serving  in  their  respective 
armies ;  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  conquering  party  should  rule  over  the 
vanquished.  When  the  three  champions  of  each  party  met,  two  of  the  Ho- 
ratii were  killed,  while  all  the  three  Curiatii  were  indeed  wounded,  but  still 
able  to  fight.  The  surviving  Horatius  then  took  to  flight,  and  the  three  Curi- 
atii pursued  him  at  such  intervals  as  their  wounds  permitted.  This  was  what 
Horatius  had  foreseen,  and  turning  round,  he  slew  them  one  after  another.  It 
ivas  thus  decided  that  Rome  should  rule  over  Alba.  When  the  Romans  re- 
:urned  home  in  triumph,  Horatius  met  his  sister,  who  burst  into  tears  and  lam- 
entations, when  she  saw  among  the  spoils  won  by  her  brother  a  garment 
-lie  had  woven  with  her  own  hands  for  one  of  the  Curiatii,  to  whom  she  had 
)een  betrothed.  Horatius,  enraged  at  her  conduct  on  such  an  occasion,  ran 
ler  through  with  his  sword.  For  this  outrage  he  was  tried  and  sentenced  to 
leath ;  but  he  availed  himself  of  his  right  to  appeal  to  the  people,  who, 
noved  by  the  recollection  of  what  he  had  done  for  his  country,  and  by  the 
ntreaties  of  his  father,  who  by  his  death  would  have  been  left  childless,  ac- 
nitted  him. 


276  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

The  kingly  government  of  Rome  came  to  an  end  with  the  expulsion  of 
Lucius  Tarquin,  in  510  B.  c.         '  ' 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  Tarquin  was  involved  in  a  war  with 
Ardea,  a  fortified  town  of  the  Rutulians,  who  had  probably  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge the  supremacy  of  Rome.  The  town  accordingly  was  besieged, 
but  with  little  success ;  and  one  day,  while  the  king's  sons  and  their  cousin, 
Collatinus,  were  feasting  in  their  tents  and  discussing  the  virtues  of  their 
wives,  it  was  arranged  that  the  three  should  go  home  unexpectedly  by  night, 
to  see  how  the  princesses  were  spending  their  time.  The  wives  of  the  two 
brothers  were  found  at  Rome,  revelling  at  a  luxurious  banquet;  but  when 
they  came  to  Collatia,  they  found  Lucretia,  the  wife  of  Collatinus,  engaged  in 
domestic  occupations  with  her  maid-servants.  She  accordingly  was  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  best  of  the  three ;  but  in  her  humble  occupation  she  appeared 
so  lovely  and  beautiful,  that  a  few  days  later  Sextus  Tarquin,  one  of  the 
princes,  returned  to  Collatia,  where,  as  a  kinsman,  he  was  hospitably  received. : 
But  in  the  dead  of  night  he  entered  her  chamber,  and  threatened  to  expose 
her  name  to  everlasting  shame,  if  she  refused  to  gratify  his  lust.  By  intimi- 
dation he  gained  his  end.  But  on  the  following  morning  Lucretia  sent  for  her 
father  and  husband,  who  came  accompanied  by  Publius  Valerius  and  Lucius 
Junius  Brutus.  To  these  four  men  Lucretia  revealed  the  crime  committed 
upon  her,  and  having  called  upon  them  to  avenge  the  wrong,  plunged  a  dag- 
ger into  her  own  breast.  Brutus,  throwing  off  the  mask  of  idiocy,  which  had 
been  assumed  by  him  in  order  to  escape  the  danger  of  being  put  to  death,  a 
fate  which  had  befallen  others,  drew  the  dagger  from  the  wound,  and  vowed 
destruction  to  the  royal  house  of  the  Tarquins.  The  three  others  took  the 
same  oath.  Brutus  then  gained  over  the  people  and  the  army  of  Rome,  and 
drove  out  the  Tarquins. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  republic  a  conspiracy  was  formed  among  a  num- 
ber of  young  patricians  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  exiled  monarch;  they 
were  joined  even  by  the  sons  of  Brutus.  When  it  was  found  out,  the  guilty 
were  put  to  death,  and  Brutus,  with  a  sternness  peculiarly  characteristic  of  a 
Roman,  ordered  his  own  sons  to  be  executed. 

The  fall  of  Tarquin  has  been  the  subject  of  many  poems  and  dramatic 
works.  Shakespeare  made  "  The  Rape  of  Lucrece  "  the  subject  of  his  longest 
poem.  And  our  own  poet.  John  Howard  Payne,  the  author  of  "  Home,  Sweet 
Home,"  has,  in  his  tragedy  entided  "  Brutus,  or  the  Fall  of  Tarquin,"  sur- 
passed all  other  authors  who  have  treated  dramatically  of  the  same  subject. 

Tarquin  afterwards  went  and  obtained  the  assistance  of  Porsenna,  King 
of  Etruria,  who  marched  against  Rome  and  pitched  his  camp  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Tiber.  On  one  occasion,  it  is  said,  the  Romans  crossed  the  Tiber 
with  the  intention  of  driving  the  enemy  from  his  strong-hold,  but  were  re- 
pulsed and  returned  to  the  city ;  and  the  enemy  would  have  pursued  them 


278 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


across  the  river,  had  not  Horatius  Codes,  a  bold  and  powerful  Roman,  who 
was  o-uardino-  the  wooden  bridge  with  two  comrades,  kept  the  whole  hostile 
army  at  bay,  while  his  countrymen  were  busily  engaged  in  breaking  down  the 
brido^e.  He  is  even  said  to  have  dismissed  his  two  comrades  and  alone  to 
have  resisted  the  whole  army  until  the  bridge  was  demolished.  He  then 
threw  himself  into  the  river,  and  safely  swam  across,  amid  showers  of  darts 
from  the  Etruscans. 

IVIacaulay,  in  his  "  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome,"  has,  in  vigorous  verse,  vividly 
depicted  this  fight : 

"  Then  out  spake  brave  Horatius,  the  captain  of  the  gate : 
'  To  every  man  upon  this  earth  death  cometh,  soon  or  late. 
Hew  down  the  bridge,  Sir  Consul,  with  all  the  speed  ye  may; 
I,  with  two  more  to  help  me,  will  hold  the  foe  in  play. 

" '  In  yon  straight  path  a  thousand  may  well  be  stopped  by  three. 
Now,  who  will  stand  on  either  hand,  and  keep  the  bridge  with  me  ? ' 
Then  out  spake  Spurius  Lartius,  a  Ramnian  proud  was  he : 
'  Lo !  I  will  stand  at  thy  right  hand,  and  keep  the  bridge  with  thee.' 

"And  out  spake  strong  Herminius,  of  Titan  blood  was  he: 
'  I  will  abide  on  thy  left  side,  and  keep  the  bridge  with  thee.' 
'  Horatius,'  quoth  the  Consul,  '  as  thou  sayest,  so  let  it  be.' 
And  straight  against  that  great  array  forth  went  the  dauntless  three." 

In  the  year  b.  c.  509,  Rome  concluded  a  commercial  treaty  with  the  wealthy 
city  of  Carthage,  a  Phoenician  colony  on  the  north  coast  of  Africa.  The  same 
treaty  had  been  twice  before  renewed,  and  the  relation  between  the  two  re- 
publics had  always  been  of  an  amicable  kind,  but  the  Carthaginians  seem  to 
have  become  apprehensive  of  the  growing  power  of  Rome.  Disputes  arose 
between  the  two  powers,  and  at  length  Rome  declared  war  against  Carthage, 
and  finally  compelled  it  to  sue  for  peace,  which  was  only  granted  on  most  hu- 
miliating conditions.     This  was  called  the  First  Punic  War. 

The  Second  Punic  War  arose  by  Hannibal,  a  young  man  of  nineteen,  lay- 
ing siege  to  Saguntum,  a  city  of  Spain  in  alliance  with  Rome.  The  Romans 
remonstrated,  but  in  vain,  and  war  was  the  consequence.  Saguntum  was  de- 
stroyed, and  the  inhabitants  put  to  the  sword.  The  contest  was  now  between 
Rome  and  Hannibal.  Hannibal,  with  a  force  of  90,000  foot,  12,000  horse  and 
thirty-seven  elephants,  began  his  memorable  march  across  the  Alps.  When 
he  descended  on  the  south  side,  his  forces  were  reduced  to  20,000  foot  and 
6,000  horse.  He  then  met  two  Roman  armies,  and  defeated  them  both.  In 
the  following  spring  he  met,  at  Lake  Thrasimenus,  the  Roman  consul  Flamin- 
ius,  who  was  defeated  and  slain.  In  this  battle  15,000  Romans  perished.  At 
length  the  Romans  prepared  to  crush  their  terrible  enemy  with  one  blow. 
They  proceeded  to  Apulia  with  a  large  army  of  80,000  foot  and  6,000  horse, 


ITALY.  279 

and  pitched  their  camp  near  the  little  town  of  Cannae.  Here  Hannibal  ao^ain 
totally  defeated  the  Romans,  leaving  47,000  of  them  dead  on  the  field.  But 
the  support  necessary  for  Hannibal  to  carry  on  his  career  of  victory  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue  was  denied  iiim,  and  at  Zama  he  was  defeated  by  Scipio  ;  and  the 
war  was  decided  in  favor  of  Rome.  Hannibal  returned  to  Carthage  and  did 
all  he  could  to  repair  the  losses  whicli  his  country  had  sustained.  But  the 
fear  and  enmity  of  Rome,  and  the  jealousy  of  many  of  his  own  countrymen, 
forced  Hannibal  to  quit  his  own  country  as  an  exile.  He  took  refuge  with 
Antiochus,  King  of  Syria,  who  made  war  against  Rome,  but  through  not  fol- 
lowing the  advice  of  Hannibal  was  easily  defeated.  Hannibal  then  souo-ht  the 
protection  of  Prusius,  King  of  Bithynia  ;  but  here,  too,  the  Romans  pursued 
him,  for  they  did  not  feel  safe  whilst  he  lived ;  and  Hannibal,  seeing  that  Pru- 
sius could  protect  him  no  longer,  put  an  end  to  his  life  by  poison. 

Forty  years  after  the  death  of  Hannibal  the  Romans,  seeing  that  Carthage 
was  recovering  to  some  extent  its  former  prosperity,  became  bent  on  destroy- 
ing it.  The  Carthaginians  were  driven  to  desperation,  and,  although  they  suf- 
fered from  the  most  terrible  famine,  they  defended  every  inch  of  ground,  even 
after  the  enemy  had  entered  the  city.  The  battle  which  raged  in  the  streets 
lasted  for  six  days,  after  which  the  fury  of  the  invaders  and  a  fearful  confla- 
gration changed  the  once  proud  mistress  of  the  Mediterranean  into  a  heap  of 
ruins.  Fifty  thousand  of  its  inhabitants  who  escaped  from  the  massacre  were 
sold  as  slaves  ;  and  Scipio,  like  his  great  namesake,  was  honored  with  the  sur- 
name of  Africanus.  The  territory  of  Carthage  was  changed  into  a  Roman 
province  under  the  name  of  Africa,  and  a  curse  was  pronounced  upon  the  site 
of  the  ancient  city,  so  that  it  should  never  be  rebuilt. 

Wars,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  now  followed  each  other  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. The  Cimbri  and  Teutons,  wild  northern  tribes,  were  defeated  by  the 
Roman  general  Marius.  Civil  war  then  arose  between  Marius  and  Sulla,  in 
which  more  than  100,000  lives  were  sacrificed.  In  this,  Sulla  was  victorious. 
Pompey,  a  young  partisan  of  Sulla,  gained  many  victories  and,  upon  the  death 
of  Sulla,  became  the  most  popular  man  in  Rome. 

Ever  since  the  time  of  Marius  and  Sulla,  the  leading  object  of  the  men  in 
power  was  to  gain  popularity  at  any  cost,  and  that  not  with  a  view  to  benefit 
their  country,  but  to  gratify  their  own  ambition  and  avarice.  Hence  the  his- 
tory of  this  period  down  to  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy,  is  little  more 
than  the  personal  history  of  men  who  endeavored  to  outdo  one  another.  By 
far  the  most  eminent  and  most  talented  among  them  was  Caius  Julius  C.xsar, 
born  in  b.  c.  100,  and  belonging  to  one  of  the  most  ancient  patrician  families. 
He  was  fast  rising  in  popular  favor  at  the  time  when  Pompey  was  quietly  en- 
joying the  fruits  of  his  victories. 

Julius  Cssar  was  a  man  of  the  highest  culture,  and  was  indefatigable  in 
everything  that  he  undertook.     He  was  equally  great  as  an  orator,  an  author, 


280  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

a  creneral  and  a  statesman.     He  has  been  called   "  the  greatest  man  in  all 
history ;  "  and  Shakespeare  styles  him 

"The  foremost  man  of  all  this  world." 

Csesar  was  of  slender  build,  fair,  of  a  delicate  constitution,  and  subject  to 
violent  headaches  and  epileptic  fits.  He  did  not,  however,  make  these  disor- 
ders a  pretence  for  indulging  himself.  On  the  contrary,  he  sought  in  war  a 
remedy  for  his  infirmities,  endeavoring  to  strengthen  his  constitution  by  long 
marches,  and  by  simple  diet.  Thus  he  contended  with  his  distemper  and  for- 
tified himself  against  its  attacks. 

He  was  a  good  horseman,  and  brought  that  exercise  to  such  perfection  by 
practice  that  he  could  sit  a  horse  at  full  speed  with  his  hands  behind  him.  He 
also  accustomed  himself  to  dictate  letters  as  he  rode  on  horseback,  and  found 
sufficient  employment  for  two  or  more  secretaries  at  once. 

As  an  evidence  of  his  naturally  ambitious  temperament,  a  remark  made 
by  Caesar  whilst  coming  to  a  little  town  near  the  Alps  may  be  given.  His 
friends,  jocularly,  took  occasion  to  say,  "  Can  there  be  any  disputes  for  offices 
here  ?  "  upon  which  Caesar  answered,  "  I  had  rather  be  the  first  man  here,  than 
the  second  in  Rome." 

He  seemed  totally  without  fear.  On  one  occasion,  when  some  of  his 
soldiers  became  panic-stricken,  and  were  fleeing  from  the  enemy,  he  took  one 
by  the  neck,  and  making  him  face  about,  said,  'You  are  taking  the  wrong 
road ;  this  is  the  way  towards  the  enemy." 

When  Caesar  was  at  war  with  Egypt,  its  princess,  Cleopatra,  with  a  friend 
named  Apollodorus,  got  into  a  small  boat,  and  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening 
made  for  the  palace  which  Caesar  had  captured.  As  she  saw  it  difficult  to  en- 
ter undiscovered,  she  rolled  herself  up  in  a  carpet;  Apollodorus  tied  her  up 
at  full  length,  like  a  bale  of  goods,  and  carried  her  in  at  the  gates  to  Caesar. 
This  strategem  of  hers,  which  was  a  strong  proof  of  her  wit  and  ingenuity,  is 
said  to  have  opened  her  the  way  to  Caesar's  heart ;  and  he  insisted  that  she 
should  reign  with  him. 

After  this,  Pharnaces,  a  king  of  Pontus,  stirred  up  all  the  kings  and  te- 
trarchs  of  Asia  against  the  Romans.  Caesar  defeated  them  in  a  great  batde, 
and  ruined  their  whole  army.  In  the  account  he  gave  one  of  his  friends  in 
Rome  of  the  rapidity  with  which  he  gained  his  victory,  he  made  use  of  only 
three  words,  "  I  came,  I  saw,  I  conquered." 

Caesar  having  conquered  all  the  world  then  known  to  Rome,  was  told  by 
the  senate  that  he  must  now  disband  his  forces.  This  Caesar  refused  to  do, 
and  crossing  the  Rubicon,  a  river  dividing  Gaul  from  Italy,  he  marched  towards 
Rome.  A  Roman  army,  under  Pompey,  was  sent  against  him.  Pompey  was 
completely  defeated,  and  fled  to  Egypt,  where  he  was  murdered. 

Caesar  was  now  virtually  the  sole  ruler  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  on  his. 


STATUE    OF   JULIUS    C^CoAR. 


{2Sl) 


282  THE   COLDEN  TREASURY. 

return  from  Africa  he  silenced  all  fears  and  apprehensions  by  proclaiming  a 
ireneral  amnesty,  and  by  assuring  his  fellow-citizens  that  his  sole  object  was 
to  restore  peace  and  order.  He  celebrated  four  triumphs,  and  entertained 
both  soldiers  and  citizens  with  every  kind  of  public  amusement.  During  his 
stay  at  Rome,  in  b.  c.  46,  he  introduced  his  celebrated  reform  of  the  calendar, 
which,  through  the  ignorance  or  caprice  of  the  pagan  pontiffs,  had  fallen  into  the 
greatest  disorder.  Cfesar  not  only  remedied  the  existing  evil,  but  made  regu- 
lations to  prevent  its  recurrence;  and  the  calendar,  as  reformed  by  him,  re- 
mained in  use  until  a.  d.  1582,  when  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  introduced  another 
reformed  calendar,  which  is  still  in  use. 

Whilst  in  Rome  a  conspiracy  was  formed  against  him.  He  was  warned  in 
reti^ard  to  it,  but  with  characteristic  indifference,  for  he  never  feared  death,  he 
paid  no  attention  to  the  warning.  A  soothsayer  also  forewarned  him  of  a 
great  danger  which  threatened  him  on  the  ides  of  March,  and  when  the  day 
was  come,  as  he  was  going  to  the  senate-house,  he  called  to  the  soothsayer, 
and  said,  laughing,  "  The  I'des  of  March  are  come ; "  to  which  he  answered 
sofdy,  "Yes;  but  they  are  not  gone." 

When  Caesar  entered  the  house,  the  senate  rose  to  do  him  honor,  but  the 
conspirators  drew  their  swords  and  gathered  round  him  in  such  a  manner 
that,  whatever  way  he  turned,  he  saw  nothing  but  steel  gleaming  in  his  face, 
and  met  nothing  but  wounds.  The  other  senators  were  seized  with  conster- 
nation and  horror,  insomuch  that  they  durst  neither  fly  nor  assist,  nor  even 
utter  a  word.  Cjesar,  seeing  himself  doomed,  drew  his  robe  over  his  face, 
and  yielded  to  his  fate. 

The  assassination  was  soon  followed  by  civil  war.  Mark  Antony,  a  friend 
of  Caesar,  and  Octavius,  a  son  of  Caesar's  niece,  made  war  against  the  assassins 
Brutus  and  Cassius,  and  defeated  them  upon  the  plains  of  Philippi.  These 
conspirators  afterwards  committed  suicide  by  falling  upon  their  own  swords. 

Antony  and  Octavius  were  now  the  chief  rulers  in  the  Roman  empire. 
Antony  married  Octavia,  the  sister  of  Octavius,  but  afterwards  divorced  and 
left  her  for  Cleopatra,  Queen  of  Egypt.  Octavius  then  declared  war  against 
Egypt  and  defeated  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  who  then  put  an  end  to  their  own 
existence. 

When  Octavius,  in  b.  c.  39,  returned  from  the  East,  the  senate  and  the 
people  vied  with  each  other  in  their  servility  and  adulation.  Two  years  later 
he  received  the  tide  of  Augustus,  that  is,  the  Venerable,  a  title  which  was  af- 
terwards assumed  by  all  the  Roman  emperors. 

The  most  important  event  which  marks  the  reign  of  Augustus  is  the  birth 
of  Christ.  The  reign  of  Augustus,  or  more  correctly,  the  period  from  the 
death  of  Sulla  to  that  of  Augustus,  forms  the  eolden  aee  of  Roman  literature. 
The  Latin  language  then  reached  its  highest  development,  and  the  greatest 
poets,  orators  and  historians  belong  to  that  period. 


ITALY.  283 

In  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  Jerusalem  was  besieged  by  the 
Romans ;  and  history  can  show  nothing  to  match  the  horrors  of  that  siew, 
or  the  deadly  work  produced  by  war  and  famine.  Mothers  snatched  the 
morsels  from  their  children's  lips.  The  robbers  broke  open  every  shut  door 
in  search  of  food,  and  tortured  most  horribly  all  who  were  thouf^ht  to  have  a 
hidden  store.  Gaunt  men,  who  had  crept  beyond  the  walls  by  night  to  c^ather 
a  few  wild  herbs,  were  often  robbed  by  these  wretches  of  the  poor  handful  of 
green  leaves  for  which  they  had  risked  their  lives.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this,  the 
starving  people  went  out  into  the  valleys  in  such  numbers  that  the  Romans 
caught  them  at  the  rate  of  500  a  day,  and  crucified  them  before  the  walls,  un- 
til there  was  no  room  to  plant  and  no  wood  to  make  another  cross. 

The  siege  lasted  134  days,  during  which  1,100,000  Jews  perished,  and 
97,000  were  taken  captive.  Some  were  kept  to  grace  the  Roman  triumph ; 
some  were  sent  to  toil  in  the  mines  of  Egypt ;  some  fought  in  provincial 
theatres  with  gladiators  and  wild  beasts;  those  under  seventeen  were  sold  as 
slaves. 

Eleven  persecutions  of  the  Christians — some  fiercer,  others  fainter — 
marked  the  dying  struggles  of  the  many-headed  monster,  Paganism.  More 
than  three  centuries  were  filled  with  the  sound  and  sorrows  of  the  great  con- 
flict. 

In  the  tenth  year  of  the  brutal  Nero's  reign  the  first  great  persecution  of 
Christians  took  place.  A  fire,  such  as  never  had  burned  before,  consumed 
nearly  the  whole  city  of  Rome  ;  and  men  said  that  the  emperor's  own  hand 
had  kindled  the  flames  out  of  mere  wicked  sport,  and  that,  while  the  blazing 
city  was  filled  with  shrieks  of  pain  and  terror,  he  sat  calmly  looking  on  and 
singing  verses  on  the  burning  of  Troy  to  the  music  of  his  lyre. 

This  story  finding  ready  acceptance  among  the  homeless  and  beggared 
people,  the  tyrant  strove,  by  inflicting  tortures  on  the  Christians,  to  turn  the 
suspicion  from  himself  upon  them.  On  the  pretence  that  they  were  guilty  of 
the  atrocious  crime,  he  crucified  many ;  some,  covered  with  the  skins  of  wild 
beasts,  were  worried  to  death  by  dogs  in  the  theatres  ;  tender  girls  and  gray- 
haired  men  were  torn  by  tigers,  or  hacked  with  the  swords  of  gladiators.  But 
the  worst  sight  was  seen  in  the  gardens  of  Nero,  where  chariot  races  were 
held  by  night,  in  which  the  emperor  himself  dressed  as  a  common  driver, 
whipped  his  horses  round  the  goal.  There  stood  poor  men  and  women  of 
the  Christian  faith,  their  clothes  smeared  with  pitch,  or  other  combustible,  all 
blazing  as  torches  to  throw  light  on  the  sport  of  the  imperial  demon.  In  the 
wider  persecutions  that  followed,  for  this  one  was  chiefly  confined  to  Rome, 
there  was  perhaps,  no  scene  of  equal  horror. 

During  these  persecutions  the  Christians  took  refuge  in  the  catacombs  or 
underground  caves.  These  had  been  used,  at  first,  simply  as  places  of  wor- 
ship and  sepulture.     But   now  an  entire  change  in  their  construcdon  took 


284  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

place.  They  became  obviously  designed  for  the  purposes  of  safety  and  con- 
cealment. Centuries  after  this  period,  during  the  short  and  tumultuous 
career  of  Cola  di  Rienzi,  the  catacombs  were  the  scenes  of  the  plots  and 
counterplots  of  tiiat  troublous  time;  and  were  also  used  as  places  of  refuge 
and  concealment. 

Rienzi,  the  son  of  an  innkeeper  and  a  washerwoman,  was,  in  early  youth, 
deeply  read  in  the  great  masters  of  the  Latin  tongue.  Cicero  and  Livy  were 
his  special  favorites.  His  classic  enthusiasm  gained  for  him  the  friendship  of 
Petrarch.  He  was  very  poor,  reduced  to  a  single  coat,  when  he  received  the 
post  of  apostolic  notary,  which  rescued  him  from  poverty.  The  feuds  of  the 
noble  families,  Colonna,  Orsini  and  Savelli,  filled  the  streets  with  daily  riot 
and  bloodshed.  Rienzi,  whose  fiery  eloquence  made  him  a  man  of  mark  in 
Rome,  might  often  be  seen  in  the  centre  of  an  eagerly  attentive  crowd,  inter- 
preting the  words  of  some  old  brass  or  marble  tablet,  and  dwelling  fondly  on 
the  ancient  glories  of  senate  and  people.  Encouraged  by  the  flashes  of  pa- 
triotic fire  which  from  time  to  time  burst  from  the  enslaved  people,  he  formed 
the  bold  design  of  seizing  the  helm  of  the  state. 

Rienzi  drove  out  the  nobles  from  Rome,  and  was  elected  tribune.  Italy 
flourished  under  his  government;  but  his  rule  was  brief.  The  nobles,  se- 
cretly gathering  strength,  rose  in  arms  against  him  ;  whilst  the  citizens  seeing 
his  inability  to  cope  with  the  nobles  also  revolted.  His  palace  was  stormed 
and  burnt,  and  he  himself  stabbed  to  death. 

The  career  of  Rienzi  has  been  made  the  subject  of  one  of  Bulwer's  finest 
romances;  and  the  reader  will  find  therein  a  picture  of  Italy  in  mediaeval 
times,  more  faithful  than  that  usually  given  in  professed  history.  Rienzi  has 
also  -been  made  the  subject  of  a  beautiful  tragedy  by  Miss  Mitford.  Byron 
thus  writes  of  the  great  patriot : 

"  Then  turn  we  to  our  latest  tribune's  name, 
PVom  her  ten  thousand  tyrants  turn  to  thee, 
Redeemer  of  dark  centuries  of  shame — 
The  friend  of  Pctraich — hope  of  Italy — 
Rienzi !  last  of  Romans  !  " 

No  city  in  the  world  can  show  greater  objects  of  interest  than  are  to  be 
found  in  Rome.  The  remains  of  all  the  epochs  of  civilization  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge,  can  be  found  there  within  a  day's  ride.  In  its  galleries 
is  to  be  found  the  most  of  what  we  have  of  antique  art. 

The  greatest  of  antique  structures  in  Italy  is  the  Colosseum.  It  was  built  in 
honor  of  Titus,  and  it  is  said  that  60,000  Jews  were  engaged  on  it  ten  years.  In 
the  middle  ages  it  was  a  feudal  fortress  for  a  long  time,  and  finally  a  quarry  from 
which  were  built  churches  and  palaces,  until  by  its  consecration  as  holy  ground, 
on  account  of  the  number  of  martyrs  supposed  to  have  been  immolated  there, 


I 


1-8-3; 


286  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

further  ravage  was  stopped.  The  subsequent  repairs,  though  greatly  inter- 
ferino-  with  its  picturesqueness,  will  doubtless  have  the  effect  of  preserving 
the  remainder  for  centuries  more.  It  is  said  to  have  given  seats  to  87,000 
spectators,  and  was  inaugurated  a.  d.  81,  the  same  year  in  which  Titus  died, 
on  which  occasion  5,000  wild  animals  and  10,000  captives  were  slain.  The  in- 
auguration lasted  100  days. 

St.  Peter's,  the  great  marvel  of  Christian  Rome,  is  built  on  or  near  the 
place  where  stood  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Vaticanus,  so  called  because  it  was 
the  place  where  the  vates,  or  augurs,  made  their  auguries  from  the  victims 
sacrificed,  and  from  which  is  derived  the  name  borne  by  the  papal  palace  of 
the  Vatican.  The  first  structure  on  this  site  was  an  oratory  erected  in  a.  d. 
90  to  indicate  the  place  where  St.  Peter  was  buried.  Constantine  the  Great 
erected  a  basilica  on  the  spot.  The  present  structure  was  commenced  by 
Julius  II.  about  1503,  under  the  direction  of  Bramanti ;  but  the  present  form 
of  the  basilica  is  due  more  to  Michael  Angelo  than  to  any  other  of  the  many 
architects  employed  on  it. 

The  Vatican  is  the  capitol  of  modern  Rome,  and  its  gallery  of  sculpture 
the  most  complete  and  valuable  in  existence.  It  is  three  stories  high,  and 
comprises  an  infinite  number  of  saloons,  galleries,  corridors,  chapels,  a  library 
of  100,000  volumes,  a  museum  which  is  immense,  twenty  courts,  eight  grand 
stairways  and  200  small  ones.  It  is  far  superior  to  any  palace  in  the  world  in 
history,  being  the  most  ancient  and  decidedly  the  most  celebrated  of  all  the 
papal  palaces,  composed  of  a  mass  of  buildings  erected  by  many  different  popes, 
covering  a  space  1,200  feet  in  length  and  1,000  in  breadth.  It  is  the  winter 
residence  of  the  pope. 

In  the  Vatican  are  to  be  found  the  greatest  works  of  Raphael,  who  is  uni 
versally  acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  painter  that  has  ever  lived.  The 
"Transfiguration  "  was  the  last  and  greatest  painting  of  the  immortal  master, 
painted  for  the  cathedral  of  Narbonne  by  order  of  Cardinal  Giulio  de' 
Medici,  afterward  Clement  VII.  For  many  years  the  picture  was  preserved 
in  the  church  of  St.  Pietro,  in  Montorio,  from  which  the  French  had  it  re- 
moved to  Paris.  In  18 15,  on  its  return,  it  was  placed  in  the  Vatican.  The 
idea  throughout  the  piece  seems  to  express  the  miseries  of  human  life,  and 
lead  those  who  are  afflicted  to  look  to  heaven  for  comfort  and  relief.  The 
upper  portion  of  the  composition  represents  Mount  Tabor;  on  the  ground 
the  three  apostles  are  lying,  affected  by  the  supernatural  light  which  proceeds 
from  the  divinity  of  Christ,  who,  accompanied  by  Moses  and  Elijah,  is  floating 
in  the  air.  On  one  side  are  nine  apostles ;  a  multitude  of  people  on  the 
other,  bringing  to  them  a  demoniac  boy  whose  limbs  are  dreadfully  convulsed, 
which  produces  on  every  countenance  an  expression  of  terror.  Two  of  the 
apostles  point  toward  heaven.  The  figures  on  the  mount  of  the  two  prophets 
and  the  three  disciples  are  magnificently  executed,  while  the  figure  of  the 


ITALY. 


287 


Saviour  is  of  surpassing  loveliness.  Before  Raphael  had  finished  the  patnt- 
incr,  he  was  himself  called  away  to  the  land  of  the  blessed,  to  behold  in  reality 
the  spiritual  beings  which  inspiration  had  led  him  to  portray  in  such  a  lovely 
manner.  He  was  but  thirty-seven  :  and  while  his  body  lay  in  state  his  last 
work  was  suspended  over  the  couch,  and  was  carried  before  him  at  his  funeral 
while  yet  the  last  traces  of  his  master-hand  were  wet  upon  the  canvas. 


,^p/f/?^.frvivv\ 


RAPHAEL. 


"  And  when  all  beheld 
Him  where  he  lay,  how  changed  from  yesterdaj — 
Him  in  that  hour  cut  off,  and  at  his  head 
His  last  great  work  ;  when,  entering  in,  thej-  look"d 


288  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Now  on  tlie  dead,  then  on  that  masterpiece ; 
Now  on  his  face,  h'feless  and  colorless, 
Then  on  those  forms  divine  that  lived  and  breathed 
And  would  live  on  for  ages — ail  were  mo\'ed, 
And  sighs  burst  forth,  and  loudest  lamentations." 

FLORENCE, 

To  Florence  has  been  awarded  the  title  of  the  fairest  city  of  the  earth. 
Who  can  doubt  it,  situated  as  it  is  in  the  rich  valley  of  the  Arno,  surrounded 
by  beauties  of  nature  and  of  art,  immortalized  by  Byron  and  Rogers,  and  re- 
vered as  the  birthplace  of  Dante,  Petrarch,  Boccacio,  Galileo,  Michael  Angelo, 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Benvenuto  Cellini,  and  Andrea  del  Sarto  ?  What  beautiful 
recollections  of  the  past  must  naturally  be  awakened  in  the  appreciative  mind 
while  tarrying  in  a  spot  which  has  given  birth  to  such  noble  contributors  to 
poetry  and  the  arts?  Beautiful  gardens  adorned  with  statues,  vases,  foun- 
tains, and  other  decorations,  as  well  as  the  open  squares  or  piazzas,  continually 
attract  the  eye  of  the  visitor ;  and  the  palaces,  which  are  very  numerous,  each 
containing  rare  paintings  and  sculptures,  form  the  principal  objects  of  interest 
in  this  delightful  city,  which  is  the  pride  of  Tuscany.  The  climate  of  Florence 
is  delightful,  varying  but  thirty  degrees  from  summer  to  winter. 

The  "  Divine  Comedy"  of  Dante  was  the  first  great  Christian  poem  ;  and 
it  has  been  called  one  of  the  "  landmarks  of  history."  The  subject  or  plot 
may  be  thus  stated  : 

Dante,  astray  in  a  gloomy  wood  and  beset  by  wild  beasts,  is  rescued  by 
the  shade  of  the  poet  Virgil,  who  has  left  his  proper  abode  in  a  painless  region 
of  hell  for  the  purpose  of  guiding  Dante  through  the  world  of  lost  souls,  at 
the  request  of  Beatrice,  whom  Dante  had  known  in  his  youth,  but  who  is  now 
an  inhabitant  of  heaven.     Over  hell-gate  an  awful  inscription  is  placed: 

"  Through  me  you  pass  into  the  city  of  woe; 

Through  me  you  pass  eternal  woes  to  prove; 
Through  me  among  the  blasted  race  you  go. 

'Twas  Justice  did  my  most  high  Author  move. 
And  I  have  been  the  work  of  Power  divine, 

Of  supreme  Wisdom,  and  of  primal  Love. 
No  creature  has  an  elder  date  than  mine. 

Unless  eternal,  and  I  have  no  end. 
O  you  that  enter  me,  all  hope  resign." 

From  agony  to  agony  the  pilgrims  plunge  deeper  and  deeper  into  the 
abyss  of  hell,  meeting  sinner  after  sinner  whose  ghastly  story  is  told  at  more 
or  less  length,  until  they  reach  the  visible,  abhorrent  presence  of  Lucifer,  who 
from  "perfect  in  beauty"  has  by  rebellion  become  absolute  in  hideous  horror. 

Mid-Lucifer  occupies  the  earth's  centre  of  gravity.     Virgil,  with  Dantfc 


ITALY. 


289 


clinging  to  him,  clambers  down  the  upper  half  of  Lucifer  and  climbs  up  the 
lower  half,  whereby  the  twain  find  themselves  emerging  from  the  depth  of 
hell  upon  the  Mountain  of  Purgatory. 

This  purgatory  is  the  domain  of  pain  and  hope — finite  pain,  assured  hope. 
Here  the  shade  of  Beatrice  assuming  in  her  own  person  the  guidance  of  her 
lover,  Virgil  vanishes. 

Under  the  guardianship  of  Beatrice,  Dante  mounts  through  eight  suc- 
cessive heavens  to  that  ninth  which  includes  within  itself  all  blessedness. 

Dante  was  of  middle  stature,  and  had  a  long  face  and  aquiline  nose.  His 
complexion  was  very  dark,  and  his  countenance  always  sad. 

The  most  important  church  in  Florence  is  the  church  of  Santa  Croce.  It 
contains  monuments  erected  to  the  memor)'  of  the  most  celebrated  men  of 
Italy.     Byron  alludes  to  it  in  the  fourth  canto  of  "  Childe  Harold:" 

"  In  Santa  Croce's  holy  precincts  lie 

Ashes  which  make  it  holier;  diist  which  is, 
Even  in  itself,  an  immortality, 

Though  there  were  nothing  save  the  past,  and 
this, 
The  particle  of  those  sublimities 

Which  have  relapsed  to  chaos  :  here  repose 
Angelo's,  Alfieri's  bones,  and  his, 
The  starry  Galileo,  with  his  woes ; 
Here  Machiavelli's  earth   returned  to  whence  it 
rose." 


w  * 


GALILEO. 


The  principal  monuments  of  the  church  are 
as  follows  :  Michael  Angelo  Buonarotti.  The 
three  statues  of  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture  appear  as  mourners. 
His  bust,  by  Lorenzi,  Is  considered  a  most  correct  likeness.  The  position  of 
this  monument  was  selected  by  Michael  Angelo  himself  that  he  might  see 
from  his  tomb  the  dome  of  the  cathedral,  the  delight  and  study  of  his  mind ; 
Alfieri's  monument,  by  Canova,  erected  at  the  private  expense  of  the  Countess 
of  Albany;  colossal  monument  to  Dante;  monument  of  Machiavelli ;  also  ol 
Lanzi,  writer  on  Italian  art. 

VENICE. 

The  city  of  Venice,  formerly  called  the  "  Queen  of  the  Adriatic,"  is  un- 
rivalled as  to  beauty  and  situation.  It  stands  on  a  bay  near  the  Gulf  of  Venice. 
In  this  gulf,  or  Adriatic  sea,  the  ceremony  of  espousing  the  Adriatic  took 
place  annually  on  Ascension  day.  It  was  performed  by  the  doge,  accom- 
panied by  all  the  nobility  and  ambassadors  In  gondolas,  dropping  into  the  sea 
a  ring  from  his  bucentaur  or  state  barge.  This  ceremony  was  omitted  for 
the  first  time  in  many  centuries  in  1797. 

19 


290 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


DOGES     PALACE,    VENICE. 


In  1 1 72  the  appointment  of  the  doge  and  other  magistrates  was  vested  in 
the  grand  council  of  four  hundred  and  eighty  members.  Change  after  change 
took  place,  until  a  Council  of  Ten  secured  the  government  to  themselves. 
Under  this  unchecked  oligarchy  a  reign  of  terror  began.  The  ten  were  terri- 
ble ;  but  still  more  terrible  were  the  three  inquisitors — two  black,  one  red — 
appointed  in  1454.  Deep  mystery  hung  over  the  three.  They  were  elected 
by  the  ten  ;  none  else  knew  their  names.  Their  great  work  was  to  kill  ;  and 
no  man — doge,  councillor,  or  inquisitor — was  beyond  their  reach.  Secredy 
they  pronounced  a  doom  ;  and  ere  long  the  stiletto  or  the  poison  cup  had  done 
its  work,  or  the  dark  waters  of  the  lagoon  had  closed  over  a  life.  The  spy 
was  everywhere.  No  man  dared  to  speak  out,  for  his  most  intimate  com- 
panions might  be  on  the  watch  to  betray  him.  Bronze  vases,  shaped  like  a 
lion's  mouth,  gaped  at  the  corner  of  every  square  to  receive  the  names  of  sus- 
pected persons.     Gloom  and  suspicion  haunted  gondola  and  hearth. 

No  scene  in  Venice  is  of  greater  interest  to  the  traveller  than  the  "  Bridge 
of  Sighs,"  immortalized  by  Byron  in  the  fourth  canto  of  "  Harold  Childe:" 

"  I  stood  in  Venice,  on  the  Bridge  of  Sighs ; 
A  palace  and  a  prison  on  each  hand  : 
I  saw  from  out  the  waves  her  structures  rise, 
As  from  tlie  stroke  of  the  enchanter's  wand : 
A  thousand  years  their  cloudy  wings  expand 
Around  me,  and  a  dying  glory  smiles 
O'er  the  far  times,  when  many  a  subject  land 
Look'd  to  the  winged  lion's  marble  piles, 
Where  Venice  sate  in  state,  throned  on  her  hundred  isles." 

Criminals  were  conveyed  across  this  bridge  to  hear  their  sentence,  and 


ITALY.  291 

from  there  led  to  their  execution ;  from  this  it  derives  its  melancholy  but  ap- 
propriate name. 

The  Grand  Canal,  which  takes  a  serpentine  course  through  the  city,  is  in- 
tersected by  146  smaller  canals,  over  which  there  are  306  bridges,  which  being 
very  steep,  and  intended  only  for  foot-passengers,  are  cut  into  steps  on  either 
side.  These  canals,  crossed  by  bridges,  form  the  water-streets  of  Venice,  the 
greater  part  of  the  intercourse  being  carried  on  by  means  of  gondolas.  They 
are  long,  narrow,  light  vessels,  painted  black,  according  to  an  ancient  law,, 
containing  in  the  centre  a  cabin  nicely  fitted  up  with  glass  windows,  blinds,, 
cushions,  etc. ;  those  belonging  to  private  families  are  much  more  richly- 
decorated. 

PADUA. 

A  little  over  twenty  miles  from  Venice  lies  Padua,  the  most  ancient  city  of 
the  north  of  Italy.  It  abounds  in  tradition,  and  its  foundation  was  ascribed  to 
Antenor,  after  the  siege  of  Troy.  It  was  taken  by  Alaric,  Attila,  and  the  Lom- 
bards, but  restored  by  Charlemagne  to  its  former  grandeur,  and  under  his 
successors  it  became  flourishing  and  independent.  The  appearance  of  the 
city  is  very  singular:  large  portions  of  irregular  unoccupied  ground,  situated 
on  the  outskirts,  adds  to  its  peculiarity.  The  houses  are  supported  by  rows 
of  pointed  arches ;  the  city  is  of  a  triangular  form,  surrounded  with  walls  and 
intersected  with  canals.  It  has  a  low,  marshy  situation,  at  the  terminus  of  the 
Canal  of  Monselici,  between  the  Brenta  and  Bacchiglione.  Travellers  are 
generally  much  disappointed  in  the  appearance  of  this  city,  it  being  very  damp 
and  exceedingly  gloomy  ;  the  streets  are  narrow,  unclean,  and  very  monoto- 
nous ;  they  are  bordered  by  arcades,  and  have  no  leading  thoroughfares. 

The  University  of  Padua  was  quite  celebrated  in  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  ;  it  was  not  only  patronized  by  an  immense  number  of  students 
from  all  parts  of  Europe,  but  also  from  Mohammedan  countries.  Dante  and 
Petrarch  were  among  its  pupils  ;  Harvey  received  his  degree  of  medicine  here 
in  1602  ;  Galileo  and  Guglielmi  were  among  its  professors  of  philosophy. 

VERONA. 

Verona  is  delightfully  situated  on  the  river  Adige,  which  flows  through  it 
and  divides  it  into  two  unequal  parts,  forming  a  peninsula.  The  river,  being 
wide  and  rapid,  is  crossed  by  four  noble  stone  bridges. 

Verona  is  particularly  celebrated  for  having  been  the  birthplace  of  many 
distinguished  men,  some  of  whom  are  worthy  of  particular  mention:  The 
celebrated  Roman  poet  Catullus,  born  b.  c.  86  ;  he  lived  and  died  poor,  as 
many  other  poets  have  done,  although  he  possessed  a  superior  genius.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  thirty  years  old,  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  and  at 
the  height  of  his  reputation.     He  had  a  great  admiration  for  the  fair  sex:  in 


292  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

speaking  of  Lesbia,  and  how  many  kisses  would  satisfy  him,  said  that  he  de- 
sired as  many  as  there  were  grains  of  sand  in  the  deserts  of  Libya  and  stars 
in  the  heavens.  AureHus  Macer,  a  Latin  poet  in  the  age  of  Augustus  ac- 
quired considerable  fame.  Cornelius  Nepos,  the  Latin  historian,  who  flour- 
ished in  the  time  of  Julius  Csesar ;  he  left  the  "Lives  of  the  Illustrious  Greek 
and  Roman  Captains"  as  a  monument  to  his  memory;  he  died  in  the  reign 
of  Augustus.  "  Caius  Secundus  Pliny  the  elder,"  one  of  the  most  learned 
of  the  ancient  Roman  writers,  born  a.  d.  23. 

There  was  one  person  who  did  more  to  increase,  by  his  own  efforts,  the 
fame  of  the  city,  than  all  the  rest  of  its  natives.  This  was  the  celebrated 
painter  Paul  Cagliari,  surnamed  Veronese  from  having  been  born  in  Verona, 
which  event  took  place  in  1530.  He  was  the  son  of  a  sculptor,  and  at  an 
early  age  manifested  a  strong  desire  to  become  a  painter.  He  was  styled  by 
the  Italians  "  the  happy  painter."  Titian  and  Tintoretto  were  selected  as  his 
models  of  perfection. 

Verona  is  distinguished  as  one  of  the  most  industrious  towns  of  Italy.  It 
has  nine  establishments  for  weaving  silk;  sixty  silk-twist  factories;  large 
leather,  earthenware  and  soap  factories ;  also  others  for  the  weaving  of  linen 
and  woollen  fabrics.  Its  trade  consists  chiefly  in  these  articles  ;  also  in  raw 
silk,  grain,  oil,  sumach  and  agricultural  produce.  Two  weekly  markets  are 
located  here;  two  fairs  take  place  annually,  and  continue  for  fifteen  days  each. 
The  fruits  and  flowers  raised  in  Verona  are  remarkably  fine.  The  climate  is 
healthy,  but  a  litde  keen,  on  account  of  its  near  approach  to  the  Alps. 

MILAN. 

Milan  is  the  principal  city  of  northern  Italy,  nearly  circular  in  its  formation, 
and  surrounded  by  a  wall  which  was  mostly  erected  by  the  Spaniards  in  1555. 
The  space  between  the  canal  and  wall  is  laid  out  in  gardens  and  planted  with 
fine  trees ;  the  city  proper  is  about  eight  miles  in  circumference,  and  although, 
like  most  ancient  cities,  it  is  very  irregularly  laid  out,  yet  it  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  in  Europe,  full  of  activity  and  wealth,  has  some  noble  thorough- 
fares, and  displays  a  number  of  fine  buildings  kept  in  thorough  repair. 

Milan  stands  at  an  elevated  height  of  452  feet  above  the  sea.  It  was  an- 
nexed to  the  Roman  dominions  by  Scipio  Nasica,  191  B.  c.  It  ranked  the 
sixth  city  in  the  Roman  empire  in  the  fourth  century.  In  the  twelfth  century 
it  was  the  capital  of  a  republic,  and  afterward  of  a  duchy  in  the  families  of 
Sforza  and  Visconti.  It  was  held  by  Spain,  after  the  battle  of  Pavia,  until  it 
was  ceded  to  Austria  in  17 14.  It  was  taken  by  the  French  in  1796,  and  also 
after  the  battle  of  Marengo,  in  1800.  From  1805  until  18 14  it  was  the  capi- 
tal of  the  kingdom  of  Italy. 

Milan  cathedral  is  the  finest  Gothic  edifice  in  Italy,  and,  as  a  church,  ranks 
next  to  St.  Peter's.     No  person  can  fail  to  be  impressed  with  its  sublimity; 


II 


ITALY.  .      2^3 

and  the  idea  suggests  itself  to  one  beholding  it  that,  although  nature  in  her 
works  was  so  perfectly  faultless  and  impressive,  man,  in  his  efforts  to  com- 
pete with  her,  was  brought  into  very  close  alliance.  If  so  grand  at  all  times, 
how  greatly  must  that  grandeur  be  increased  when  the  entire  buildino-  is  il- 
luminated, as  it  was  after  the  battle  of  Magenta,  and  to  celebrate  at  the  same 
time  the  anniversary  of  the  five  days  of  March,  1848,  when  the  Milanese  rose 
and  expelled  their  Austrian  masters  ?  After  the  entire  city  was  illuminated, 
gorgeous  rays  of  light,  representing  the  Italian  colors,  red,  green  and  white, 
blazed  forth  simultaneously  from  this  magnificent  edifice;  spire,  roof  and  body 
presendng  a  mysterious  grandeur  and  sublime  beauty,  with  which  no  one 
could  fail  to  be  everlastingly  impressed.  The  delicate  tints  of  the  crimson,  as 
they  reflected  upon  the  white  marble  of  die  cathedral,  were  scarcely  surpassed 
by  the  deeper  color  which  it  afterward  assumed,  and  then  so  mysteriously 
changed  into  green,  and  then  to  the  purest  white. 

In  Milan  is  to  be  seen  the  celebrated  painting  of  "The  Last  Supper,"  by 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  the  greatest  painting  by  one  of  the  greatest  painters  that 
has  ever  lived. 

NAPLES. 

The  country  around  Naples  is  rich  in  beauties  of  scenery ;  nothing  can 
well  be  conceived  to  be  more  beautiful.  Quite  a  celebrated  author  remarks 
that  he  congratulated  himself  upon  being  delayed  on  the  route,  so  that  he  did 
not  arrive  at  Naples  until  late  at  night,  for  it  enabled  him  to  anticipate  v.ith 
brighter  hopes  the  beauty  of  the  scene  that  opened  on  his  eyes  with  the  hght 
of  morning.  The  situation  of  Naples  is  as  fine  as  can  be  imagined,  being 
partly  seated  on  a  spacious  bay,  upon  the  shores  of  which  are  magnificent 
villas  and  gardens. 

It  is  principally  in  respect  to  situation  that  this  city  surpasses  most  others. 
The  streets  are  straight,  and  paved  with  square  blocks  of  lava  laid  in  mortar, 
and  said  to  resemble  the  old  Roman  roads.  Owing  to  the  mildness  of  the 
climate,  a  great  deal  of  business  is  carried  on  In  the  open  streets,  and,  while 
walking  along,  you  are  accosted  by  numerous  different  traders.  There  is  but 
little  real  magnificence  in  architecture;  and,  though  many  of  the  buildings  are 
erected  on  a  very  grand  scale,  they  are  generally  overloaded  with  ornament. 
The  houses  resemble  those  of  Paris,  except  that  they  are  on  a  larger  scale. 

Naples  is  very  ancient.  It  was  founded  by  the  people  of  Cumce,  a  colony 
from  Greece,  who  gradually  spread  themselves  round  the  bay  of  Naples,  and 
was  called  from  this  circumstance  Neapolis,  or  "  The  New  City." 

In  after  years  it  became,  as  it  is  now,  a  seat  of  pleasure.  Its  hot  baths, 
the  number  and  excellence  of  its  theatres  and  other  places  of  amusement,  its 
matchless  scenery,  the  mildness  of  its  climate,  and  the  luxury  and  effeminacy 
of  its  inhabitants,  made  it  a  favorite  retreat  of  the  wealthy  Romans. 

The  nobility  are  fond  of  great   show  and    splendor.     The  females   are 


204  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

proud,  even  when  very  poor.  They  never  go  out  unless  to  ride,  and  bestow 
great  pains  and  time  upon  their  personal  charms,  to  fascinate  the  other  sex. 
The  principal  promenade  of  the  ladies  is  on  their  own  roof,  which  is  generally 
adorned  with  shrubs  and  flowers. 

Within  a  few  hours'  journey  from  Naples  are  the  ruins  of  Psestum,  and 
also  the  ruins  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  which  were  destroyed  by  an 
eruption  of  Mount  Vesuvius  in  the  year  79. 

The  grandeur,  gloom  and  majesty  of  the  temples  of  Paestum,  standing 
alone  as  they  do  amid  their  mountain  wilderness,  similar  to  Baalbec,  without 
a  vestige  near  of  any  power  that  could  have  raised  them,  surpasses  anything 
of  the  kind  on  earth.  The  principal  ruins  are  the  Basilica,  the  Temple  of 
Neptune,  the  Amphitheatre,  the  Temple  of  Vesta  and  the  Forum. 

The  early  history  of  Pompeii  is  involved  in  obscurity,  but  the  supposition 
is  that  it  was  settled  by  Osci  and  Pelasgi  prior  to  the  establishment  on  this 
coast  of  the  Greek  colonies  from  Euboea.  It  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Sam- 
nites  about  the  year  440  B.  c,  and  was  taken  by  the  Romans  eighty  years 
afterward ;  during  the  Social  War  it  revolted  with  the  other  Campanian  towns, 
and  but  little  more  was  known  respecting  it  until  it  was  visited  by  an  earth- 
quake A.  D.  63,  which  occasioned  great  destruction  ;  it  was  afterward  over- 
whelmed, in  79,  by  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  and  continued  to  be  buried  under 
the  ashes  and  other  volcanic  matter  for  about  1,669  years.  Notwithstanding 
that  the  celebrated  architect  and  engineer,  Domenico  Fontana,  who  was  em- 
ployed in  constructing  an  aqueduct  to  convey  water  to  Torre,  fell  in  with  the 
ruins  of  the  city,  no  particular  attention  was  paid  to  the  discovery  until  1748, 
when  the  peasants  were  employed  in  cutting  a  ditch,  since  which  time  it  has 
continued  to  be  an  object  of  great  interest,  and  since  1755  the  progress  of 
excavation  has  been  pretty  constantly  prosecuted. 

Pompeii  has  the  reputation  of  being  "  the  most  wonderful  of  the  antiqui- 
ties of  Italy,  and  one  which  it  is  said  never  disappoints  the  traveller  who  is  at 
all  acquainted  with  the  history  of  ancient  Rome." 

Herculaneum  was  destroyed  by  torrents  of  volcanic  mud,  upon  which,  in 
subsequent  eruptions,  ashes  and  streams  of  lava  fell  to  a  depth  varying  from 
seventy  to  no  feet:  no  great  loss  of  life  resulted  from  the  destruction  of  this 
city.  It  is  said  by  an  eminent  historian  to  have  been  built  on  elevated  ground 
between  two  rivers,  thereby  rendering  the  atmosphere  perfectly  healthy. 
Some  quite  distinguished  Romans  resided  in  the  city  and  suburbs. 

Too  much  cannot  be  learned  or  said  of  these  ruins  of  antiquity,  with  the 
history  of  which  every  student  must  be  familiar.  The  melancholy  destruction 
of  such  a  city,  the  desolation  which  spread  from  dwelling  to  dwelling,  the  flight 
of  mother,  father,  sister  and  brother  from  the  scene  of  terror  and  confusion, 
must  awaken  feelings  of  awe  and  sympathy  in  every  human  heart.  Mothers, 
with  infants  in  their  arms,  seeking  safety  and  protection,  gathering  their  little 


ITALY. 


295 


ones  around  them,  trying  to  escape  uninjured,  and  yet  how  many  were  plunged 
into  a  fearful  eternity  ! 

A  united  Italy  had  always  been  the  dream  of  her  greatest  patriots;  but  it 
was  not  till  1870  that  this  dream  was  realized.  The  main  agents  in  bringing 
about  this  result  were  Count  Cavour,  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  statesmen, 
and  the  patriots  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi.  In  1848,  when  France  had  once 
more  cast  out  her  king,  the  Italians  rushed  to  arms  for  the  purpose  of  driving 


DESTRUCTION    OF   POMPEII. 


out  the  Austrians  from  Italy,  and  of  becoming  a  united  nadon.  Pius  IX.,  who 
had  recendy  become  pope,  had  given  some  unexpected  evidences  of  a  sym- 
pathy with  the  popular  desire.  He  permitted  a  body  of  Roman  volunteers  to 
join  the  patriot  ranks,  but,  being  a  man  of  peace,  he  soon  withdrew  his  per- 


mission. 


General  Garibaldi  spent  the  largest  portion  of  the  years  1S51,  '52,  and  '53 


296  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

on  Staten  Island,  and  the  house  in  which  he  hved  has  been  made,  in  a  way,  a 
memorial  by  die  Italian  colony  of  New  York,  who  purchased  it,  and  after  suit- 
ably marking  it  with  a  marble  tablet  commemorative  of  the  great  revolutionist's 
stay  in  it,  presented  it  to  Antonio  Meucci,  whose  guest  he  was  during  most  of 
his  stay  in  the  United  States. 

Signor  Meucci  knew  Garibaldi  in  South  America,  and  for  many  years  lived 
in  Havana,  Cuba.  Originally  a  sculptor,  he  was  but  in  moderate  circumstances 
when  Garibaldi,  escaping  from  Austrian  tyranny  in   Piedmont,  took  ship  at 


POPE   PIUS   IX. 


Genoa  and  arrived  in  New  York.  He  offered  him  the  shelter  of  his  humble 
home  on  Staten  Island  and  the  "Liberator"  gladly  accepted  it.  The  twain, 
with  General  Avezzano,  formed  a  partnership  in  the  manufacture  of  stearine 
and  parafifine  candles  on  a  small  scale,  and  the  furnace  in  which  they  melted 
and  mixed  their  material  before  runnineinto  the  moulds  is  still  standincr  in  the 
yard  of  the  brewery,  where  it  is  slowly  crumbling  away  under  the  tooth  of  time, 
surrounded  by  huge  beer  casks. 


ITALY. 


297 


Dr.  Nardyz,  who  was  then  an  officer  of  the  corvette,  and  subsequently 
served  on  Garibaldi's  staff  in  Italy,  thus  describes  the  hero's  appearance  at  that 
time:  "He  was  about  five  feet  six  or  seven  inches  high,  and  weighed  about 
one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds.  His  eyes  were  light  and  his  hair  and  beard 
red.  He  was  very  quick  and  active  on  his  feet,  and  very  pleasant  and  agree- 
able in  his  manners.  At  the  time  he  was  quite  poor,  all  his  property  in  Italy 
having  been  sequestered,  and  he  acted  as  salesman  of  the  candles  he  helped 
to  manufacture.  They  were  a  novelty  at  the  time,  and  he  was  concerned  in 
their  invention.  He  used  to  carry  them  to  New  York  in  a  basket  and  go 
about  from  store  to  store  disposing  of  them  and  soliciting  orders  for  more." 

Garibaldi  was  high  up  in  masonry,  and  while  a  resident  of  Staten  Island 
he  established  the  masonic  lodge  in  New  York  which  now  bears  his  name. 


GARIBALDI. 

The  marble  tablet  affixed  to  the  front  of  the  house  bears  a  legend,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  translation  : 

Here  lived  and  labored,  from  185 1  to  1853, 
GUISEPPE  GARIBALDI, 

THE      HERO      OF     TWO     WORLDS. 

March  9th,  1884.  Erected  by  Friends. 

In  return  for  his  services  to  Italy  and  Victor  Emmanuel  (although  he  had 
litde  love  for  the  latter)  Garibaldi  was  given  a  pension  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand francs  a  year.  He  retired  to  the  island  of  Caprera,  and  on  this  before 
rather  barren  rock  he  established  a  home  which  was  truly  delightful.     He 


298 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


made  it  a  garden  spot,  but,  no  doubt,  amid  its  enjoyments  his  memory  often 
reverted  to  the  time  when  he  was  an  exile  in  the  humble  abode  on  Staten 
Island. 

Garibaldi  for  a  time  governed  Naples.  The  people  were  asked  to  declare 
their  wishes  in  regard  to  their  political  future.  They  voted,  by  vast  majorities, 
in  favor  of  union  with  Sardinia.  King  Victor  Emmanuel,  in  accepting  the 
new  trust,  summoned  the  people  to  concord  and  self-denial.  "  All  parties,"  he 
said,  "  must  bow  before  the  majesty  of  the  Italian  nation,  which  God  uplifts." 

Humbert  IV.,  King  of  Italy,  the  eldest  son  of  King  Victor  Emmanuel,  was 
born  March  14th,  1S44.     At  an  early  age  he  obtained  an  insight  into  political 

and  military  life  under  the  guid- 
ance of  his  father.  He  took 
part  in  the  reorganization  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  the  Two 
Sicilies,  and  in  1862  he  visited 
Naples  and  Palermo,  where  he 
shared  the  popularity  of  Gari- 
baldi. In  1868  he  married  his 
cousin,  the  Princess  Marguerite 
of  Savoy.  He  succeeded  to  the 
throne  on  the  death  of  his  fa- 
ther, in  1878.  In  the  same 
year,  as  he  was  entering  Na- 
ples, a  man  named  Passanante 
approached  the  royal  carriage 
and  attempted  to  assassinate 
him  with  a  poniard.  The  king 
escaped  with  a  slight  scratch, 
but  the  prime  minister,  who  was 
with  him,  was  wounded  rather 
badly  in  the  thigh.  King  Hum- 
bert has  shown  himself  to  be  a 
eood  king  and  brave  soldier. 
Byron,  in  his  "  Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage,"  thus  apostrophizes  Italy,  its 
remarkable  history  passing  vividly  before  his  mind  ; 

"  Italia!  O  Italia!  thou  who  hast 
The  fatal  gift  of  beauty,  which  became 
A  funeral  dower  of  present  woes  and  past, 
On  thy  sweet  brow  is  sorrow  plough'd  by  shame 
And  annals  graved  in  characters  of  flame." 


KING    HUMBERT    IV. 


ANGOULEME. 


FRANCE. 


^UROPE  was  gradually  peopled  from  Asia.     Four  great  tides  of 

migration  may  be  noted.     First  came  the  wave  which  peopled 

Greece  and  Italy;  then  Celts  and  Cimbri,  who  occupied  Spain, 

^^^       France  and  Britain  ;  in  the  third  place  the  Germans,  who  filled 

VJ^CV''     Central  Europe ;  and  lastly,  Sarmatian  or  Sclavonic  tribes,  who  peo- 

•     pled  the  north-east,  and  upon  whom  pressed    the    Huns  from  Mount 

Ural,  and  Tartars  from  beyond  the  Caspian. 
Early  in  the  sixth  century  we  find  France  parcelled  out  among  three 
nations — Franks  in  the  north  and  centre,  Visigoths  in  the  south-west  and 
Burgundians  in  the  south-east.  Underlying  these  ruling  races  was  a  great 
mass  of  Celts  or  Gauls,  and  some  Roman  settlers,  reduced  to  a  state  of  vas- 
salage. Clovis,  the  leader  of  the  Salian  Franks,  was  at  first  merely  a  captain 
of  leudes,  or  free  warriors,  with  no  tide  to  command  except  what  his  personal 
qualities  gave  him.  He  roved  from  city  to  city,  until  the  influence  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  gift  of  a  gold  crown  and  purple  robes  from  Constantinople, 
gave  him  some  show  of  royalty,  and  then  he  fixed  his  court  at  Pans. 

Beginning  with  Pharamond  in  418,  the  list  of  Merovingian  kings  of  the 
'^  '^  (299) 


300  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Franks  contains  thirty-four  names.  Third  of  these  was  Meroveg  or  Meer- 
v/iCT  (sea-warrior),  from  whom  the  race  derived  their  name.  And  the  fifth 
was  Clovis,  who  has  been  already  named  as  the  true  founder  of  the  French 
monarchy. 

Charlemagne,  or  Charles  the  Great,  was  born  about  742,  and  when  twenty- 
nine  years  of  age  became  ruler  of  the  Prankish  kingdom. 

His  reign  divides  itself  into  two  parts.  The  one,  extending  from  its  open- 
incr  in  771  to  the  complete  subdual  of  the  Saxons  in  804,  was  spent  in  con- 
stant wars  on  almost  every  frontier ;  the  other,  from  804  to  his  death,  was  de- 
voted to  the  organization  and  improvement  of  the  vast  empire  which  his 
sword  had  won. 

The  chief  wars  of  Charlemagne  were  with  the  Saxons  beyond  the  Rhine, 
the  Lombards  of  Italy,  the  Saracens  of  Spain,  and  the  Avars,  who  occupied 
modern  Hungary.  He  fought  also  with  the  Danes,  and  the  Sclavonic  tribes 
on  liis  eastern  border. 

Charlemagne  died  of  pleurisy  in  his  seventy-second  year.  A  year  before, 
in  the  cathedral  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  amid  the  applause  of  the  assembled  no- 
bles, he  had  caused  his  only  living  son  Louis  to  assume  the  imperial  crown. 

Louis  le  Debonnaire,  fitter  for  a  monk's  cell  than  a  selfish  court  or  brawl- 
ing camp,  succeeded  his  great  father,  and  did  all  his  gentle  nature  could  for 
twenty-six  years  to  humanize  his  subjects.  But  belted  bishops  and  lawless 
chiefs  were  too  strong  for  him.  War  among  his  three  sons  then  divided  the 
empire.  Lothaire,  the  eldest,  seized  the  imperial  title  ;  but  Charles  and  Louis, 
uniting,  defeated  him  in  841,  on  the  bloody  field  of  Fontenaille.  Two  years 
later  a  treaty  was  made  at  Verdun,  by  which  France  and  Germany  became 
separate  and  independent  states.  Charles  held  France ;  Louis  ruled  Ger- 
many; while  Lothaire  received  Italy,  with  some  broken  strips  along  the 
Rhone  and  Rhine.  As  had  happened  in  the  family  of  Clovis,  the  race  of 
Charlemagne,  called  Carlovingians,  grew  very  degenerate ;  and  there  is  noth- 
ing in  the  history  of  kings  branded  with  nicknames,  such  as  the  Stammerer, 
the  Fat,  the  Foolish,  the  Lazy,  to  challenge  our  notice  or  respect.  Such  men 
misgoverned  France,  until,  in  987,  under  Hugh  Capet,  a  new  dynasty  arose. 
With  that  date  the  history  of  the  Franks  ends  ;   that  of  the  French  begins. 

The  history  of  France  soon  merges,  from  this  period,  into  that  of  the  Cru- 
sades, when  all  Christendom  began  to  be  aroused  by  the  wild  eloquence  of 
Peter  the  Hermit. 

This  man,  said  to  have  been  a  native  of  Amiens,  was  a  soldier  in  his  youth. 
Upon  the  death  of  his  wife,  he  retired  broken-hearted  to  a  hermit's  cell,  from 
which,  however,  his  innate  love  of  change  drove  him  a  pilgrim  to  the  Holy 
Land.  Returning  thence  full  of  anger  at  the  degradation  of  the  sacred  spot, 
he  obtained  leave  from  Pope  Urban  II.  to  call  all  true  Christians  to  arms  ;  and 
as  he  passed  through  Italy  and  France,  a  fleshless  spectre,  clad  in  mean  rai- 


I 


FRANCE.  3QJ 

ment,  with  bare  head  and  feet,  and  staggering  under  a  heavy  crucifix,  his 
fierce  war-cry  woke  an  echo  in  milHons  of  hearts. 

Within  the  same  year  two  general  councils  were  called  by  the  pope one 

at  Placentia,  the  other  at  Clermont,  in  Auvergne.  At  the  latter,  both  the 
pope  and  the  hermit  spoke  in  words  of  fire.  With  one  voice  all  who  heard 
cried  out  in  the  old  ¥r(tnc\\,  '' Dieti  li  volt /" — "It  is  the  will  of  God  !  "  and 
few  there  were  who  left  the  old  market-place  on  that  day  without  a  red  cross 
on  the  shoulder,  to  mark  them  as  soldiers  in  the  sacred  cause. 

The  great  captain  of  the  first  crusade  (war  of  the  cross),  was  Godfrey 
of  Bouillon,  or  Boulogne,  the  Duke  of  Basse-Lorraine.  This  leader  is  the 
hero  of  Torquato  Tasso's  great  poem,  "Jerusalem  Delivered."  Godfrey  one 
day,  in  single  combat  with  a  Turk,  cut  his  foe  in  two  ;  one-half  fell  into  the 
river,  the  other  sat  still  on  horseback — "  by  which  blow,"  sajs  Robert  the 
Monk,  "one  Turk  was  made  two  Turks." 

At  last  the  capital  of  Palestine,  lovel}'  even  in  her  desolation,  rose  in  their 
view.  The  knights,  springing  from  their  saddles,  wet  the  turf«with  tears  of 
mingled  joy  and  grief.  Barefooted  and  weeping  the  little  band  advanced. 
Under  a  sky  of  burning  copper,  with  no  water  in  the  pools  and  brooks,  they 
fought  for  five  long  weeks  before  Godfrey  and  his  stormers  stood  victorious 
within  the  walls.  The  massacre  of  70,000  Moslems,  and  the  burning  of  the 
Jews  in  their  synagogue,  stained  the  glory  of  the  conquerors. 

Forty-eight  years  passed,  and  then  a  second  crusade  began,  which  ended 
disastrously,  although  Jerusalem  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  two  orders  of 
military  monks — the  Hospitallers  and  Templars.  But  when  the  news  came 
that  Jerusalem  had  fallen  before  Saladin,  the  great  Sultan  of  Egypt,  and  that 
the  golden  cross,  which  had  glittered  for  eighty-eight  years  on  the  Mosque  of 
Omar,  marking  its  transformation  into  a  Christian  church,  had  been  trampled 
in  the  streets,  Europe  for  the  third  time  girt  herself  for  war.  The  three 
great  western  princes  took  the  cross — Richard  I.  of  England,  Philip  Augustus 
of  France  and  Frederic  Barbarossa  (Redbeard)  of  Germany.  A  tax,  called 
Saladin's  tithe,  was  laid  upon  Christendom  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  war. 
As  was  usual  in  all  the  Crusades,  complete  absolution  from  sin  was  promised 
to  every  soldier  who  struck  a  blow  at  the  infidel. 

It  was,  however,  nearly  a  year  after  their  setting  out  that  the  royal  warriors 
appeared  before  Acre ;  Philip  first,  Richard  shordy  afterwards.  New  vigor 
sdrred  in  the  besiegers  ;  and  Saladin  must  have  trembled  for  his  hold  upon 
the  key  of  Syria  when  he  saw  the  plain  whitened  with  a  new  camp  of  many 
thousand  tents.  One  glimpse  of  the  great  Saracen's  character  must  not  be 
passed  by.  Even  at  so  great  a  crisis,  this  generous  foe  sent  frequent  pres- 
ents of  pears  and  snow  to  cool  the  fever,  of  which  Richard  and  Philip  lay 
sick  in  their  tents.  Ere  long  the  broken  ramparts  of  the  city  yielded  to  the 
crusaders,  and  the  sultan  fell  back  towards  the  south. 


302  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Soon  after  the  fall  of  Acre,  Philip  returned  to  France.  Other  Crusades 
followed,  only  to  end  disastrously.     The  strangest  was  the  Boy  Crusade  of 

I  21  2. 

A  shepherd  boy,  Stephen,  of  Vendome,  gave  out  that  God  in  a  vision  had 
bestowed  on  him  bread,  and  had  sent  him  with  a  letter  to  the  King  of  France. 
Round  him  gathered  30,000  children  of  about  twelve  years.  Boys  were  there, 
and  o-irls  in  boys'  clothes,  on  horseback  and  afoot.  The  tears  and  prayers 
of  their  parents  could  not  turn  them  from  tiieir  mad  design.  The  strange 
flame  spread  through  all  France;  from  castle  and  from  hut  the  litde  ones  fled 
to  follow  the  car  of  Stephen.  With  wa.x  candles  in  their  hands,  clad  in  pil- 
grim's dress,  they  moved,  singing  hymns,  over  the  hot  dusty  plains  of  Prov- 
ence, upheld  through  all  the  toils  and  terrors  of  the  way  by  the  wild  hope 
that  the  waters  of  the  sea,  drying  up  before  them,  would  open  a  path  to  the 
Holy  Land.  Robbed  by  the  way,  they  were  yet  more  pitilessly  cheated  in 
Marseilles.  Two  merchants  agreed  to  take  them  to  Palestine,  for  the  love  of 
God,  as  the  canting  scoundrels  said.  The  children  set  sail  in  seven  ships. 
Two  of  these  were  wrecked,  and  all  on  board  lost.  The  other  five  bore  their 
precious  freight  to  Egypt,  where  all  were  sold  as  slaves.  It  is  some  consola- 
tion to  know  that  the  rascally  merchants  were  soon  after  hanged  in  Sicily. 

The  life  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  deeply  colored  with  the  brilliant  hues  of 
chivalry.  There  the  knight  is  the  central  figure — the  model  of  mediaeval  art — 
the  hero  of  mediaeval  literature — foremost  in  every  court  revel  and  greenwood 
sport,  in  the  glittering  tilt-yard  and  the  dusty  battle-field. 

The  tournament  has  been  well  called  the  link  which  united  the  peaceful  to 
the  warlike  life  of  the  knight.  They  were  first  held  in  France,  as  the  French 
origin  of  the  name  seems  to  show.  England  and  Germany  soon  followed  the 
example  of  their  neighbors.  The  lists,  in  which  the  encounters  took  place, 
were  roped  or  railed  off  in  an  oval  form,  generally  between  the  city  and  a 
wood.  The  open  spaces  at  each  end  were  filled  with  stalls  and  galleries  for 
the  ladies  and  the  noble  spectators. 

Bayard,  who  fell  in  France  in  1524,  was  almost  the  last  of  the  prcnx  chev- 
aliers of  that  knighdy  land.  The  Emperor  Maximilian  I.  is  still  called  in  Ger- 
many ''dcr  letzte  Ritter" — the  last  knight.  In  England  chivalry,  as  a  system, 
lasted  till  the  time  of  Elizabeth. 

We  find  a  brilliant  reflection  of  chivalry  in  the  romantic  literature  which 
grew  up  about  the  time  of  the  Crusades.  The  Romance  pictures  the  knight 
in  his  glory,  splendid  but  clumsy;  suave  and  courteous  in  the  extreme,  but 
very  often  brutal.  The  enchanted  castle  with  its  beautiful  and  distressed  cap- 
tives, the  monster  dragons  and  other  terrors  to  be  overcome  by  the  uncon- 
quered  arm  of  the  hero,  were  the  allegorical  images  of  evils  existing  in  that 
terrible  time,  when  might  was  the  only  right,  highly  magnified  and  colored  by 
the  untaught  poets,  who  sang  of  them.     It  is  a  pity  to  think  that  the  knight- 


FRANCE.  3Q3 

errant  Is  a  very  doubtful  character,  whose  picture,  if  ever  he  existed,  must  have 
been  drawn  from  those  chevaliers  who  travelled  from  tournament  to  tourna- 
ment, claiming-  and  receiving  hospitality  everywhere  as  citizens  of  the  world. 
The  Romance,  owing  its  birth  to  chivalry,  repaid  the  benefit  by  prolonging  the 
life  of  chivalry  for  many  years.  The  deeds  of  Arthur  and  Charlemagne 
formed  the  subjects  of  some  of  the  earliest  romances. 

The  history  of  France  during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  brought 
into  prominence  the  great  names  of  Richelieu,  Mazarin  and  Colbert. 

France  had  already  produced  one  or  two  great  names  in  literature.  Rab- 
elais, the  greatest  of  all  humorists,  was  born  at  Touraine  in  14S3.  His  chief 
work  is  a  satirical  romance,  of  which  a  giant,  Gargnatua,  and  his  son  are  the 
heroes.      He  died  in  1553. 

Montaigne  printed  his  "Essays"  in  1580,  and  they  are  by  far  the  best  of 
their  kind.  Our  own  great  essayist,  Emerson,  calls  Montaigne  one  of  the 
great  "representative  men"  of  the  world. 

The  great  brilliance  of  the  court  of  Louis  XIV.  was  owing  to  the  cluster 
of  wits  and  literary  men  whom  he  gathered  round  him.  Corneille  and  Racine, 
the  tragedians  ;  Moliere  and  Regnard,  the  comedians ;  Boileau  and  La  Fon- 
taine, the  poets  ;  La  Rochefoucauld  and  La  Bruyere,  the  wits  ;  Des  Cartes  and 
Pascal,  the  philosophers ;  Bossuet  and  Arnauld,  the  divines ;  Mabillon  and 
Montfaucon,  the  scholars ;  Bourdaloue  and  Massillon,  the  preachers ;  all  gave 
lustre  to  his  reign.  With  such  men  he  lived  in  close  intimacy;  and  thus,  too, 
he  struck  a  blow  at  the  old  noblesse,  for  his  aristocracy  of  talent,  of  which  he 
made  so  much,  was  drawn  almost  altogether  from  the  ranks  of  the  people.  The 
writings  of  these  great  stars  of  French  literature  bear  the  stamp  of  the  age. 
They  are  highly  polished  and  have  a  stately  grace  ;  but  they  were  written  by 
men  who  breathed  an  atmosphere  of  splendid  artificiality ;  and  they  lack,  in 
consequence,  "that  touch  of  nature  which  makes  the  whole  world  kin." 
They  were  not  written  for  the  whole  world,  but  for  the  favored  few  who  wore 
ruffles  and  brocade.  Dryden  and  Pope,  who  got  their  inspiration  from  Paris, 
are  the  best  examples  in  English  literature  of  a  similar  style. 

Louis  XV.  being  only  five  years  old  when  his  great-grandfather  died,  the 
government  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  nephew 
of  the  dead  king.  This  prince,  whose  licentious  extravagance  was  rivalled  by 
that  of  his  worthless  minister,  the  Cardinal  Dubois,  held  the  regency  for  eight 
years.  When,  in  1723,  Orleans  and  Dubois  sank  within  a  few  months  of 
each  other  into  the  grav^,  Louis  XV.  was  a  boy  of  fourteen.  Three  years  later 
began  the  administration  of  Cardinal  Fleury,  tutor  to  the  king,  which,  lasting 
for  seventeen  years  marks  the  best  period  of  a  shameful  reign.  Then,  when 
Fleury  died,  France  went  rapidly  down  the  hill.  The  court,  ruled  by  the 
painted  favorites  of  the  licentious  king,  Pompadour  and  Dubarry,  exhausted 
every  shape  of  cosdy  debauchery.     The  last  sou  of  taxation  was  wrung  Irom 


304  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

the  starving  peasants.  The  soldiers  of  France  were  beaten  at  Dettingen,  at 
Rossbach,  and  at  Minden.  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  and  some  of  the  finest  of 
the  Antilles  were  wrested  from  Louis  by  the  English.  The  health  of  the 
public  mind  was  sapped  by  the  infidelities  of  Voltaire  and  the  mock  sentimen- 
talism  of  Rousseau. 

THE    REVOLUTION    IN    FRANCE, 

Louis  XVL  succeeded  his  grandfather  on  the  loth  of  May,  1774.  Then 
twenty  years  of  age,  he  had  been  already  four  years  married  to  Marie  An- 
toinette, the  beautiful  daughter  of  Maria  Theresa.  The  young  couple  entered 
with  the  fresh  joy  of  their  years  into  the  gayeties  of  the  coronation,  and  all 
hicrh-born  France  rang  with  the  noise  of  feasting.  But  in  every  square  mile 
of  the  land  there  were  men  whose  wives  and  children  cried  to  them  in  vain 
for  bread. 

At  last,  after  many  muttered  warnings,  and  long-gathering  darkness,  the 
tempest  broke  in  awful  fury.  A  fierce  mob,  whose  souls  were  leavened  with 
infidelity  and  brutalized  by  changeless  misery  and  never-satisfied  hunger, 
raged  through  the  Paris  streets.  The  spark  which  fired  the  mine  was  a  rumor 
that  the  soldiers  were  marching  to  dissolve  the  Assemblj'.  Necker,  too,  the 
sole  hope  of  the  starving  people,  had  been  dismissed.  Cockades  of  green 
leaves,  torn  from  the  trees,  became  the  badge  of  the  rioters.  Shots  were 
heard  in  many  quarters.  An  old  man  was  killed  by  a  bullet  from  the  Ger- 
man oruards. 

Then  the  grim  old  prison  of  the  Bastile  was  stormed.  Within  its  dark 
walls  hundreds  of  innocent  hearts  had  broken,  pierced  through  with  the  iron 
of  hopeless  captivity.  The  terrible  Icltres  de  cachet — sealed  orders  from  the 
king  to  arrest  and  fling  into  prison  without  a  trial,  and  often  without  any  dis- 
tinct charge — had  packed  its  dungeons  with  wretched  men  during  the  late 
reign.  Little  wonder,  then,  that  the  first  rush  of  the  mob  was  to  the  Bastile. 
Dragging  cannon  from  Les  Invalides,  they  opened  a  fire  upon  the  walls,  burst 
in,  and,  seizing  the  governor,  slew  him  in  the  Place  de  Greve. 

The  flames  then  burst  out  all  through  the  land,  e.xcept  in  La  Vendee.  The 
chateaux  of  the  nobles  were  pillaged  and  burned  to  the  ground.  Tortures 
were  inflicted  by  the  fierce  peasants  upon  their  former  masters.  The  royal 
Jleur  de  lis  was  trampled  in  the  mud,  and  the  Tricolor  upraised. 

One  day  in  autumn  a  swarm  of  women  gathered  around  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  crying,  "  Bread !  give  bread !  "  It  became  the  nucleus  of  a  riotous 
crowd,  surging  with  wild  outcries  through  the  street.  Then  out  came  Millard 
with  a  drum,  who  said  he  would  lead  them  to  Versailles.  Outside  the  bar- 
riers he  strove  to  disperse  them,  but  no — they  would  go  on.  Hungry,  and 
wet  with  heavy  rain,  when  they  found  that  the  king  and  the  Assembly  woul<' 
give  them  only  words,  they  gathered  round  the  palace.     Some  fool  fired  oPi 


FRANCE.  3Q5 

them.  Sweeping  through  an  open  gate,  they  spread  through  all  the  splendid 
rooms ;  and  the  queen  had  scarcely  time  to  escape  by  a  secret  door,  when  her 
bedchamber  was  filled  with  a  fierce  and  squalid  throng.  The  timely  arrival 
of  Lafayette,  and  the  consent  of  the  king  to  remove  to  Paris,  alone  quelled  the 
tumult. 

Dark  and  still  darker  grew  the  sky.  Mirabeau,  "our  little  mother  Mira- 
beau,"  as  the  fishwomen  of  the  gallery  used  lovingly  to  call  him,  was  made 
president  of  the  Assembly  in  January,  1791.  He  exerted  all  his  giant  genius 
to  quell  the  storm,  whose  rising  gusts  had  been  felt  at  the  Bastile  and  Ver- 
sailles ;  and  poor  Louis  clung  to  the  hope  that  this  aristocratic  darlino-  of  the 
rabble  might  yet  save  him.  But  Mirabeau  died  in  April ;  and  while  the  sprino- 
blossoms  were  brightening  in  all  the  fields  of  France,  the  Bourbon  lilies 
drooped  their  golden  heads.  There  seemed  no  hope  for  Louis  but  in  flirrht. 
He  fled  in  despair,  but  was  recognized,  stopped  at  Varennes,  and  brouo-ht 
back  to  Paris. 

Matters  then  grew  worse  than  ever  at  the  centre  of  the  Revolution.  The 
Paris  mob  rose  like  a  sea,  swelled  by  some  troops  from  Marseilles,  who,  first 
singing  along  Paris  streets  the  war-hymn  of  Rouget  de  Lisle,  caused  it  hence- 
forth to  be  known  as  "  The  Marseillaise." 

King  Louis  was  tried  for  treason  and  conspiracy  against  the  nation.  He 
denied  the  justice  of  the  charge.  But  denial  was  useless  before  judges  such 
as  his.  Death  was  the  sentence  of  the  court  after  a  discussion  of  some  days. 
The  Reign  of  Terror  began.  The  Girondists,  friends  of  moderate  republican- 
ism, were  slain  without  mercy,  or  driven  over  the  land,  without  shelter  or  food,  to 
die.  When  Marat  met  a  merited  death — he  was  assassinated  in  his  bath  by 
Charlotte  Corday,  a  young  girl  from  Caen — Robespierre  was  left  sole  dictator 
of  France.  A  frightful  carnage  followed.  Every  day  saw  red  baskets  of 
human  heads  carried  from  the  guillotine,  whose  dull  thud  was  music  to  the 
crowd.  Women  sat  and  worked  as  calmly  as  in  the  pit  of  the  theatre,  wliile  the 
fearful  tragedy  was  played  out  before  their  eyes.  Fathers  brought  their  lifde 
ones  to  see  the  heads  fall.  And  as  fast  as  the  prisons  were  emptied  by  this 
wholesale  butchery,  fresh  victims,  denounced  often  by  their  nearest  neighbors, 
were  thrust  into  the  cells  to  await  their  certain  doom. 

Queen  Marie  Antoinette  followed  her  husband  to  the  guillotine  and  the 
grave  in  the  October  of  the  same  year.  Bailly,  Condorcet,  Barnave,  and 
Madame  Roland  met  the  same  fate.  Philip  Egalite,  whose  vote  had  been 
given  for  the  death  of  his  royal  kinsman,  went  also  to  his  richly  deserved 
doom. 

Still  the  mob  cried  for  more  heads.  The  guillotine  could  not  be  stopped. 
Some  of  the  Mountain-men,  less  tigerish  than  their  fellows,  were  first  laid 
below  its  edge.  Such  were  Danton  and  Camille  Desmoulins.  It  is  litde 
wonder  that  Christianity  was  cast  aside  in  this  Reign  of  Terror.  The  God- 
20 


306 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


^ 


Wji^-- 


dess  of  Reason,  impersonated  by  a  worthless  woman,  was  openly  worshipped, 
and  torches  were  burnt  before  her  shrine.  A  thing  was  then  tried,  the  failure 
of  which   is  a  noteworthy  proof  how  little  man's  wisdom  is  when  compared 

with  that  of  the  all-wise  God.  Every  tenth 
day  was  appointed  a  day  of  rest  and  amuse- 
ment; but  neither  man  nor  beast  could 
bear  the  strain  of  ten  days'  work. 

The  French  Revolution  may  be  said  to 
have  come  to  an  end  with  the  opening  of 
the  career  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  ;  indeed 
we  may  say  that  with  this  man's  life  a  new 
era  dawned  upon  the  world.  A  British 
writer  says  in  regard  to  him,  that  "  Nature 
liad  no  obstacles  that  he  did  not  surmount 
— space  no  opposition  that  he  did  not 
spurn:  and,  whether  amid  Alpine  rocks, 
Arabian  sands,  or  Polar  snows,  he 
seemed  proof  against  peril,  and  endowed 
with  ubiquity  ! 

"The  whole  continent  of  Europe  trem- 
bled at  beholding  the  audacity  of  his  de- 
signs and  the  miracles  of  their  execution. 
Scepticism  bowed  to  the  prodigies  of  his  performances — romance  assumed 
the  air  of  history  ;  nor  was  there  aught  too  incredible  for  belief  when  the  world 
saw  a  subaltern  of  Corsica  waving  his  flag  over  her  most  ancient  capitals.  All 
the  visions  of  antiquity  became  commonplace  in  his  contemplation;  kings 
were  his  people:  nations  were  his  outposts;  and  he  disposed  of  courts,  and 
crowns,  and  camps,  and  churches,  and  cabinets,  as  if  they  were  the  titular  dig- 
nitaries of  the  chess-board. 

"  Grand,  gloomy,  and  peculiar,  he  sat  upon  the  throne  a  sceptred  hermit, 
and  wrapt  in  the  solitude  of  his  awful  originality.  A  mind,  bold,  independent, 
and  decisive ;  a  will  despotic  in  its  dictates  ;  an  energy  that  distances  expedi- 
tion, and  a  conscience  pliable  to  every  touch  of  interest,  marked  the  outline  of 
this  extraordinary  character,  the  most  extraordinary  perhaps,  that,  in  the  an- 
nals of  this  world,  ever  rose,  or  reigned,  or  fell. 

"  Such  a  medley  of  contradiction  and,  at  the  same  time,  such  an  individual 
consistency,  were  never  united  in  the  same  character — a  royalist,  a  republi- 
can and  an  emperor;  a  Mahometan,  Catholic,  and  a  patron  of  the  synagogue; 
a  subaltern  and  a  sovereign ;  a  traitor  and  a  tyrant ;  a  Christian  and  an  in- 
fidel— he  was  through  all  his  vicissitudes  the  same  stern,  potent,  inflexible 
original — the  same  mysterious,  incomprehensible  self;  the  man  without  a 
model  and  luithoiit  a  shadow." 


MARIE   ANTOINETTE. 


FRANCE. 


307 


At  an  early  age,  when  others  scarcely  start  in  life,  Napoleon's  years  were 
outnumbered  by  his  victories  ;  and  the  kings  of  Europe  conquered  by  his 
sword,  or  subjugated  by  his  genius,  lowered  before  the  imperial  ea<de.  It 
would  appear  that,  from  his  earliest  childhood.  Napoleon's  parents  rested  all 
their  hopes  on  him.  His  father,  in  the  delirium  with  which  he  was  seized  in 
his  last  moments,  incessantly  called  Napoleon  to  come  to  his  aid  with  his 
great  szvord. 

Napoleon  had  a  very  happy  knack  in  speaking,  as  well  as  in  actino-  the 
sublime.  At  the  battle  of  Lodi,  there  was  a  battery  of  the  enemy  which 
was  making  dreadful  havoc  amongst  the  French  ranks  ;  and  repeated  attempts 
had  been  made,  in  vain,  to  storm  it.  An  officer  came  to  Bonaparte  to  rep- 
resent to  him  the  importance  of  making  another  effort  to  silence  it ;  when  he 


NAPOLEON'S    RESIDENCE    AT   ST.    HELENA. 


put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  party,  exclaiming,  "  Let  it  be  silenced  then  !  " 
and  carried  it  by  storm. 

On  another  occasion  he  was  giving  some  orders,  which  were  humbly  rep- 
resented to  him  to  be  impossible ;  when  he  burst  out  "  How !  impossible!  That 
word  is  not  French." 

When  the  marriage  of  Napoleon  with  the  Archduchess  Maria  Louisa  was 
about  to  take  place,  the  French  emperor,  in  answer  to  some  remonstrance  on 
the  subject,  observed,  "  I  should  not  enter  into  this  alliance  if  I  did  not  know 
that  her  origin  is  as  noble  as  my  own."  This  was  said  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  his  indifference  for  mere  rank. 

In  person  Bonaparte  was  rather  under  the  middle  size,  being  about  five 
feet  six  inches  in  height.  An  anecdote  is  related  of  his  endeavoring  to  take 
down  something  he  desired  from  a  shelf,  but  which  was  above  his  reach.    One 


308 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


of  his  marshals  courteously  offered  to  hand  it  down  to  him,  using  the  words: 
"Excuse  me,  Sire;  I  am  higher  than  you."  "You  are  taller"  was  the  rejoin- 
der of  Napoleon. 

After  Napoleon's  defeat  at  Waterloo  he  went  to  Rochefort  with  the  view 
of  escaping  to  America;  but  this  he  could  not  do,  because  the  British  cruisers 
watched  all  the  coast.  On  the  15th  of  July  he  went  on  board  the  British  ship 
Bellerophon  (Captain  Maidand),  having  previously  written  to  the  prince  re- 
gent to  say  that  "  he  came,  like  Themistocles,  to  claim  the  hospitality  of  the 
British  people  and  the  protection  of  their  laws."  The  ship  sailed  to  Torbay, 
where  Napoleon  received  word  that  tlie  British  government  had  resolved  to 
send  him  to  St.  Helena. 

The  Northumberland  carried  him  out  to  that  lonely  rock,  which  he  reached 
on  the  15th  of  October,  18 15.  And  there  he  lived,  first  at  Briars  and  then  at 
Longwood   for  nearly  six  years,  dreaming  of  the  glorious  past.     In  181 S  his 

health  began  to  fail,  and  on  the 
5th  of  May,  1 82 1,  he  died  of  an 
ulcer  in  the  stomach.  His  body, 
laid  at  first  in  Slane's  Valley,  near 
a  clump  of  weeping  willows,  was 
borne  to  France  in  the  winter  of 
1840,  and  placed  with  brilliant 
ceremony  in  the  Hotel  des  In- 
valides. 

The    history  of   France  since 

181 5    is    full    of  change.      When 

Louis    XVIII.    died,    in    1824,  his 

brother  became  king,  with  the  title 

of  Charles  X.     This  king,  like  all 

his  Bourbon  kindred,  had  a  mania 

for  despotic  rule.      He  could  not — poor  blind  king — read  the  lessons  written 

in  French  blood  upon  those  pages  of  the  national  story  which  had  not  long 

been  closed. 

Louis  Philippe  succeeded  Charles,  and  his  reign  lasted  from  1830  to  1848, 
when  a  revolution  in  France  drove  him  from  his  throne  and  he  sought  shelter 
in  England.  France  was  now  a  republic  once  more,  and  Louis  Napoleon  was 
elected  president.  He  then  overturned  the  government  and  was  crowned 
emperor.  The  emperor  married  Eugenie,  Comtesse  de  Teba,  in  January,  1853. 
In  the  summer  of  1859,  the  Emperor  Napoleon  in  person  led  the  French 
armies  across  the  Ticino,  won  on  the  soil  of  Lombardy  the  brilliant  fields  of 
Magenta  and  Solferino,  and  concluded  the  mysterious  peace  of  Villafranca. 

The  result  of  the  Franco-German  war,  which  ended  so  disastrously  for 
France,  put  an  end  to  the  rule  of  Napoleon  III.     He  and  his  army  were  forced 


TOMB   OF    NAPOLEON    I. 


lOd'Jj 


310 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


to  surrender  to  the  victorious  Germans,  who  then   marched   upon   Paris.     At 
length  Paris  itself  was  forced  to  surrender  to  the  conquerors. 

The  celebrated  Vendome  Column  was  destroyed  by  the  Communists,  the 
inspiring  spirit  of  that  affair  being  the  distinguished  French  artist  and  com- 
munist, Gustave  Courbet.      On  the  i6th  of  May,  1 871,  at  a  quarter  after  four 


PORTE    ST.    DENIS. 


m  the  afternoon,  the  Vendome  Column,  previously  undermined  by  masons, 
yielded,  but  only  after  many  efforts  and  slowly,  to  the  strain  of  powerful  wind- 
lasses. It  came  down  with  a  great  crash,  filling  the  adjacent  streets  and 
squares  with  dust.  An  immense  crowd  was  in  attendance  ;  they  saw  Napo- 
leon's statue  roll  headless  in  the  debris.  The  column  was  subsequently  re- 
stored by  the  government. 


ji 


(311) 


COLUMN,   PLACE    VENDOME,    PARIS. 


312 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


In  certain  respects  Paris  is  the  capital  of  the  world.  The  strangers  who 
flock  to  it  in  thousands  proclaim  it  to  be  so.  No  other  city  offers  equal  at- 
tractions to  persons  of  the  most  varied  tastes.  Paris  consists  of  a  hundre^ 
distinct  cities  welded  into  one,  and  yet,  as  a  whole,  it  is  full  of  individuality. 

Architecturally  Paris  is  one  of  the  finest  cities  of  the  world,  hi  its  very: 
centre  rises  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  a  noble  edifice  of  the  twelfth  andj 
thirteenth  centuries,  illustrating  one  of  the  most  remarkable  epochs  in  the 
history  of  architecture.  On  the  same  island  stands  the  Sainte-chapelle,  aj 
marvel  of  decoration,  erected  in  the  space  of  two  years  (i  245-1 247). 

Amongst  more  modern  buildings  there  are  many  which  challenge  admira- 
tion. The  Louvre  ;  the  dome  of  the  Invalides ;  the  Pantheon  ;  the  palace  of 
Luxembourg;  the  Greek  temple  of  the  Madeleine,  designed  by  Napoleon  tO: 
perpetuate  his  glory;  the  new  Opera  House,  and  the  Arc  de  Triomphe,  form 
ing  a  fitting  terminus  to  the  noble  avenue  of  the  Champs  Elysees,  would  each] 
separately  constitute  the  fame  of  a  less  worthy  town.  Most  of  the  publi 
buildings  of  Paris  are,  however,  associated  with  great  historical  events.  The 
Hotel  de  Villt-,  the  Tuilleries,  the  Palais  Royal  and  the  Sorbonne  are  rich  in 
historical  associations. 

Scientific  and  art  collections  abound.  At  the  Museum  of  Arts  and  In- 
dustry may  be  seen  a  collec- 
tion illustrating  the  progress 
of  the  mechanical  arts.  The 
galleries  of  the  Lu.xembourg 
and  the  Louvre  are  rich  be- 
yond measure  in  works  of  art 
of  every  age.  Several  of  the 
theatres,  and  notably  the  Thea- 
tre Francais,  may  fitly  be  enum- 
erated   amoncrst     art    institu- 

o 

tions.  The  number  of  scien- 
tific societies  is  exceedingly 
large. 

The  Porte  St.  Denis  is  an 
arch  of  triumph  which  was 
erected  in  1672,  in  commem- 
oration of  the  conquests  of 
Louis  XIV.  in  Germany, 

Since  the  death,  a  few 
years  ago,  of  the  Comte  de 
Chambord,  there  is  none  of  the  direct  line  of  Louis  XIV.  possessing  any  claim 
to  the  throne  of  France.  He  descended  from  the  eldest  son  of  the  Grand 
Dauphin,  who   was   son    of   Louis    XIV.     The   second    son    of    the    Grand 


^9^1^ 


COMTE    DE    PARIS. 


FRANCE. 


313 


Dauphin  became  King  of  Spain  as  Philip  V.,  and  from  him  descended  the 
families  known  respectively  as  the  Spanish  Bourbons,  the  Bourbons  of  Parma, 
and  the  Bourbons  of  the  Two  Sicilies ;  but  Philip  formally  renounced  for  him- 
self and  his  descendants  all  claims  upon  the  throne  of  France. 

Upon  the  extinction  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  French  Bourbons direct 

descendants  of  Louis  XIV. — the  younger  branch,  descended  from  the  only 
brother  of  the  great  king,  has  taken  its  place,  and  fallen  heir  to  whatever 
rights  or  claims  it  may  have  possessed.  That  'younger  branch  is  known  as 
the  House  of  Orleans ;  and  its  head  is  Louis  Philippe  Albert,  Comte  de  Paris. 

General    Boulanger,   the    French    minister  of  war,  has    been    called   the 
"Bonaparte    without  a    victory." 
He   is    still    quite    young,    very 
handsome,  and  a  good  speaker. 

The  upper  classes  in  France 
are  brilliantly  gifted.  In  liter- 
ature and  the  arts,  in  science, 
and  in  the  application  of  science, 
they  show  innumerable  names 
of  distinction.  For  the  last  two 
centuries  and  a  half,  ever  since 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  the 
French  biographical  dictionary 
illustrates  every  department  of 
intellectual  labor.  Many  women 
have  also  made  themselves  fa- 
mous as  authors  and  artists. 

The  "  Heptameron,"  stories 
collected  by  Margaret  of  Valois, 
rivals  the  "  Decameron  "  of  Boc- 
caccio ;  and  Rosa  Bonheur,  in 
animal  painting,  is  the  equal  of 
Landseer.  Angouleme,  the  birth- 
place  of  Margaret  of  Valois,  was  also  that  of  the  great  French  authors,  Bal- 
zac and  Montalembert. 

France  has  been  termed  not  inappropriately  the  vineyard  of  the  earth,  its 
grand  red  wines  for  finesse  and  botiqtiet  being  unrivalled  throughout  the 
world,  and  its  wines,  led  off  by  Chateau  d'Yquem,  rivalling  those  of  any  other 
country,  not  omitting  even  the  renowned  Johannisberg,  and  the  still  more  re- 
nowned Tokay,  while  as  regards  its  sparkling  wines  France  is  universally  ac- 
knowledged to  be  without  a  peer. 


GENERAL   BOULANGER. 


ROYAL    PALACE,    MALHlD. 


SPAIN. 


HERE  is  more  of  color,  fascination  and  new  sensation  in  a  trip  to 
Spain  than   to  any  other    European    country.     The    country   is 
strange  and  beautiful,  the  habits  and  manners  of  its  people  novel 
and  striking,  and  it  is  out  of  the  beaten  track. 

Spain  is  divided  into  three  distinct  regions:  the  south  and 
south-east  warm  and  fertile,  the  productions  being  those  of  the 
temperate  and  tropical  zones;  the  central  consisting  of  elevated 
plains,  but  scantily  watered  ;  the  northern  covered  chiefly  with  mountain 
ranges,  high,  broken  and  rugged ;  each  region  being  provided  by  nature  with 
oudets  to  convey  its  productions  to  any  quarter  of  the  globe. 

No  one  knows  what  people  first  lived  in  Spain.  History  begins  with  the 
Iberians,  of  whom  it  tells  us  litde.  The  Iberians  were  followed  by  the  Celts. 
After  much  fighting  the  two  nations  concluded  to  dwell  peacefully  together, 
and  were  called  the  Celtiberians. 

During  the  civil  wars  of  the  Roman  republic,  it  often  happened  that  the 
defeated  general  fled  to  Spain.     There  he  collected  his  followers,  hired  sol- 
diers, made  alliances  with  the  native  tribes,  and  fought  a^ain.     It  was  thus 
(314) 


I 


SPAIN.  315 

during  the  furious  contest  of  Marius  and  Sulla  for  the  control  of  public  af- 
fairs. Ouintus  Sertorius,  a  partisan  of  Marius,  fled  to  Spain  when  Sulla  be- 
came victorious. 

Sertorius  had  a  tame  fawn  which  he  pretended  had  been  sent  to  him  by 
the  goddess  Diana,  in  order  to  guide  his  actions  in  war.  If  he  learned  that 
the  enemy  was  preparing  to  attack  some  city,  or  was  trying  to  persuade  the 
inhabitants  to  rebel,  he  declared  that  the  fawn  had  warned  him  to  have  his 
forces  in  readiness  for  action.  If  he  received  intelligence  of  a  victory  o-ained 
by  his  officers,  he  concealed  the  messenger  who  brought  it.  Then  he  pre- 
sented the  fawn,  crowned  with  flowers,  and  bade  the  people  rejoice  and  sac- 
rifice to  the  gods,  for  that  they  would  soon  hear  good  news. 

The  northern  tribes  who  conquered  Rome  overran  Spain  also.  The 
Franks,  the  Suevi,  the  Alans  and  the  Vandals  followed  each  other,  burning 
and  slaying  as  they  marched.  Great  numbers  of  these  passed  into  Africa; 
the  remainder  were  overcome  by  the  Western  Goths,  or  X'^isigoths,  who  suc- 
ceeded them  in  411.  The  Visigoths  ruled  in  Spain  until  its  conquest  in  the 
eighth  century  by  the  Saracens  or  Moors. 

In  710,  Tarik,  a  lieutenant  of  the  Saracen  general  Musa,  crossing  the 
strait  from  Tangier  with  500  men  to  reconnoitre  the  Spanish  coast,  landed  at 
the  rock  ever  since  called  Gibraltar  (the  hill  of  Tarik).  Next  year,  with 
12,000  men,  he  met  and  defeated  at  Xeres,  Roderic,  last  of  the  Visigothic 
kings.  The  beaten  monarch,  who  had  come  to  battle  crowned  with  pearls 
and  lounging  in  an  ivory  car,  was  drowned  in  the  Guadalquivir  as  he  fled 
from  the  fatal  field.  Musa  completed  the  conquest  of  the  peninsula,  driving 
the  remnant  of  the  Visisjoths  into  the  mountain-land  of  Asturias. 

Among  the  mountains  of  Asturias  the  wreck  of  the  Visigothic  nation, 
shattered  on  the  field  of  Xeres,  survived  ;  and  these,  breathing  the  free  moun- 
tain air  and  eating  the  bread  of  hardship,  became  steeled  into  a  race  of  heroes, 
whose  succeeding  generations  never  rested  until  the  infidels,  driven  continu- 
ally southward,  were  at  last  expelled  from  the  peninsula. 

Rising  from  amid  the  dust  of  these  early  wars  was  seen  the  famous  hero 
of  the  Spanish  ballads,  Roderigo  Diaz  de  Bivar,  called  by  the  Christians 
Campeador  (the  Champion),  and  by  the  Moors,  whom  he  so  often  defeated, 
El  Seid,  the  Cid  (lord).  He  was  born  at  Burgos,  in  the  eleventh  century. 
Driven  from  Castile  by  the  usurper  Alfonso,  he  began  a  guerilla  warfare 
against  the  Moors  of  Aragon,  where  he  fixed  his  casde  on  a  crag,  which  is 
still  called  the  Rock  of  the  Cid.  His  grreat  achievement  was  the  conquest, 
after  a  long  siege,  of  the  Moorish  city  of  Valencia.  There  he  established  a 
little  state,  over  which  he  ruled  until  his  death  in  1099. 

The  "  Cid,"  it  is  related,  was  never  defeated  ;  alive,  he  whipped  the  Moors, 
and,  dead,  his  corpse  was  miraculously  strapped  to  a  steed  and  driven  out  to 
attack  the  invaders,  when  he  routed  them  with  tremendous  carnage.     Such  is 


316  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

the  leo-end ;  but  these  legends  and  proverbs  are  very  solid  things  in  old 
Spain. 

In  Granada  shone  the  last  blaze  of  Moorish  splendor  in  Spain.  Though 
shrunken  to  a  circuit  of  i8o  leagues,  the  kingdom  of  Granada,  under  the 
Alhamarid  monarchs,  remained  strong  and  glorious  for  two  centuries  and  a 
half,  defying  the  chivalry  of  Spain  and  enriched  by  a  commerce  which  car- 
ried her  silks  and  sword-blades,  her  dyed  leather,  her  fabrics  of  wool,  flax  and 
cotton  to  the  bazaars  of  Constantinople,  Egypt,  and  even  India.  Mulberry 
trees  and  sugar-canes  clothed  her  fertile  valleys.  The  fair  Vega,  or  cultivated 
plain,  sweeping  away  from  the  city  of  Granada  for  ten  leagues,  brought  forth 
delicious  fruits  and  heavy  grain,  nourished  by  the  waters  of  the  Xenil,  which 
were  spread  through  a  thousand  rills  by  the  industry  of  the  Moorish  husband- 
men. 

To  the  east  rose  the  white  peaks  of  the  Sierra  Nevada;  and,  crowning 
one  of  the  two  hills  on  which  the  city  stood,  was  the  palace  or  royal  fortress 
of  the  Alhanibra,  still  even  in  its  ruins  the  great  sight  of  Spain. 

Outwardly  the  Alhambra  seems  to  be  but  a  plain,  square  red  tower;  but 
within,  in  spite  of  monkish  whitewash  and  the  vandalism  of  Charles  V.,  who 
pulled  down  a  large  part  to  make  room  for  a  winter  palace  that  was  never 
finished,  it  is  a  group  of  halls,  courts  and  colonnades  of  wonderful  grace  and 
beauty.  Their  slender  columns  rivalling  the  taper  palm-tree ;  walls  whose 
stones  were  cut  and  pierced  into  a  trellis-work,  resembling  in  its  exquisite 
delicacy  lace  or  fine  ivory  carving ;  domes  honey-combed  with  azure  and  ver- 
milion cells,  and  bright  with  stalactites  of  dropping  gold  ;  groves  of  orange 
and  myrtle,  clustering  round  the  marble  basins  in  which  cool  silver  fountains 
plashed  their  merry  music,  formed  a  scene  of  fairy  splendor,  amid  which  the 
monarchs  of  Granada  held  their  brilliant  court. 

The  Moslem  power  had  existed  in  Spain  for  nearly  eight  centuries,  when 
tlie  Christian  king,  Ferdinand,  resolved  to  win  Granada  from  the  Moors,  and 
laid  siege  to  the  city.  Famine  soon  began  to  be  felt.  Unknown  to  his  peo- 
ple, the  besieged  monarch  and  his  advisers  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
Spaniards.  On  a  fixed  day  the  Moorish  king  gave  up  the  keys  of  the  Al- 
hambra; and  the  great  cross  of  silver,  which  had  been  throughout  the  war  the 
leading  ensign  of  the  Christian  host,  was  borne  into  the  Moorish  capital  amid 
the  pealing  notes  of  the  Te  Deiim. 

The  Moorish  name  of  the  city  was  Karnattah.  "  The  Pomegranate,"  and 
the  threat  of  the  Spanish  king,  Ferdinand,  that  he  would  pluck  the  pome- 
granate leaf  and  flower  to  pieces  was  fulfilled  when  Boabdil,  the  last  of  the 
Moorish  monarchs,  was  driven  out  of  the  beautiful  city.  Upon  the  height 
overlooking  Granada,  Boabdil,  heart-broken,  gazed  at  the  exquisite  pome- 
granate that  lay  beneath  him,  gazed  until  compelled  to  fly,  and  that  spot  is 
called  unto  the  present  hour  El  ultimo  Sospiro  del  Moro,  or  "The  last  Sigh 


SPAIN. 


317 


of  the  Moor."  His  eyes  were  brimming  with  tears.  "Well  doth  it  become 
thee,"  said  his  mother,  "  to  weep  like  a  woman  for  what  thou  couldst  not  de- 
fend as  a  man." 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors,  Spain,  under  Charles  V.,  eneacred  in  a 
war  with  France,  which  was  carried  on  with  varying  fortune.  It  then,  under 
his  son  Philip  II.,  turned  its  arms  against  the  Netherlands.  The  Spaniards 
were  beaten,  England  giving  aid  to  these  northern  provinces  through  the 
terrible  struggle. 

In  15S8,  Philip,  King  of  Spain,  endeavored  to  make  a  complete  conquest 
of  England,  and  for  that  purpose  sent  an  armament  of  130  ships.  It  was 
called  the  "  Invincible  Armada,"  because  it  was  believed  to  be  unconquerable. 
But  his  hopes  proved  dreams.  The  Armada  met  with  nothing  but  misfor- 
tune, both  from  battle  and  from  storms.     Only  fifty  ships  returned  to  Spain. 


THE   ARMADA. 


The  beginning  of  Spanish  literature  is  found  in  ballads,  which  in  part  ex- 
press national  feelings,  opinions  and  beliefs,  and  in  part  celebrate  great  men 
and  great  deeds.  The  chronicle  followed  the  ballad.  It  was  in  part  history, 
in  part  story  ;  but  it  described  truly  the  customs  and  feelings  of  the  age.  Ro- 
mances of  chivalry  (tales  of  impossible  feats  performed  by  gallant  knights) 
were  extremely  popular.  Many,  however,  believed  that  they  had  a  damagmg 
effect  upon  the  mind.  At  length  the  greatest  genius  which  Spain  ever  pro- 
duced put  an  end  to  them  by  a  work  which  will  be  read  as  long  as  the  world 
lasts.  This  work  is  called  "  Don  Quixote,"  and  the  author  is  Miguel  de  Cer- 
vantes. Cervantes,  who  wrote  it  while  imprisoned,  died  in  161 6.  No  monu- 
ment was  raised  to  his  memory  until  1835.  when  a  bronze  statue  ol  hmi,  larger 


318  IHE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

than  life,  was  set  up  in  Madrid.  This  is  thought  to  have  been  the  first  ever 
erected  in  Spain  in  honor  of  any  man  of  letters  or  science. 

Calderon,  one  of  the  greatest,  and  Lope  de  Vega,  the  most  prolific  drama- 
tist that  ever  lived,  were  natives  of  Spain. 

Spain  has  produced  some  great  painters.  Velasquez  is  the  finest  court 
painter,  while  Murillo  is  the  best  painter  of  religious  pictures.  Murillo  cared 
litde  on  what  material  he  painted.  Once,  when  employed  at  a  convent,  the 
cook  of  the  establishment  served  him  with  great  zeal.  As  he  was  about  to 
depart,  this  brother  begged  for  some  slight  sketch,  when  it  was  discovered  that 
there  was  no  more  canvas. 

'•Never  mind,"  said  the  cook,  who  feared  that  he  might  miss  the  picture, 
"  take  this  napkin ; "  and  he  held  out  the  one  which  the  artist  had  used  at  din- 
ner. 

Murillo  took  it  with  a  laugh,  and  before  evening  it  was  worth  more  than 
its  weight  in  gold.  He  had  painted  on  it  a  "  Virgin  and  Child,"  still  known  as 
the  "Virgin  of  the  Napkin." 

Marshal  Soult,  who  was  an  inveterate  looter,  was  in  the  habit  of  seizing 
all  the  valuable  paintings  to  be  found  on  the  line  of  his  march.  Of  thirteen 
Murillos  which  he  managed  to  collect  in  Spain,  one  of  them,  an  "Immaculate 
Conception,"  at  the  Marshal's  sale  in  May,  1852,  was  bought  by  the  French 
government  for  586,000  francs  (;^i  17,200). 

There  is  an  amusing  story  of  the  circumstances  under  which  Soult  secured 
his  prize.  In  pursuit  of  Sir  John  Moore  he  overtook  two  Capuchin  friars,  who 
turned  out,  as  he  suspected  them  to  be,  spies.  On  hearing  that  there  were 
some  fine  Murillos  in  the  convent  to  which  they  belonged,  he  ordered  them  to 
show  him  the  way  to  it.  Here  he  saw  the  Murillo  in  question,  and  offered  to 
purchase  it.  All  to  no  purpose,  till  the  prior  found  that  the  only  way  to  save 
the  lives  of  his  two  brethren  was  to  come  to  terms. 

"But,"  said  the  prior,  "we  have  had  100,000  francs  offered  for  it." 

"  I  will  give  you  200,000  francs,"  was  the  reply,  and  the  bargain  was  con- 
cluded. 

"  You  will  give  me  up  my  two  brethren  ? "  asked  the  prior. 

"  Oh,"  said  the  marshal,  very  politely,  "  if  you  wish  to  ransom  them,  it 
will  give  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  meet  your  wishes.  The  price  is  200,000 
francs." 

The  prior  got  his  friars,  but  lost  his  picture. 

Madrid,  the  capital  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  is  situated  in  the  centre  of  an 
arid  plain.  It  is  the  most  elevated  of  all  the  capitals  of  Europe,  being  about 
2,200  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  royal  picture-gallery  is  the  great 
lion  of  the  Spanish  capital.  It  is  richer  in  paintings  than  any  other  museum 
in  Europe. 

The  structure  for  bull-fighting  is  built  of  brick,  and  is  capable  of  holding 


SPAIN. 


319 


14,000  spectators.  The  interior  is  well  fitted  for  seeing  this  spectacle.  The 
fights  generally  take  place  on  Sunday  afternoons. 

Seville,  the  birthplace  of  Miirillo,  as  a  place  of  permanent  residence,  is 
perhaps  one  of  the  most  desirable  in  Spain.  There  is  not  a  day  durino-  the 
whole  year  on  which  the  sun  does  not  shine.  The  winter  is  very  pleasant. 
Byron  says  that  Seville  is  famous  for  its  oranges  and  its  women,  and  the 
women,  like  the  oranges,  are  of  two  kinds:  bitter  and  sweet.  For  a  lono-  time 
it  was,  however,  the  centre  of  letters,  science  and  arts.  Its  most  remarkable 
and  interesting  building  is  the  Alcazar,  or  palace,  the  residence  of  the  Moorish 
and  Catholic  kings  of  Spain.  The  name  signifies  the  House  of  Caesar.  It  is  a 
splendid  specimen  of  Moslem  architecture.  In  the  royal  chapel  there  is  a 
large  assortment  of  relics,  amongst  which  is  a  piece  of  the  true  cross,  the 
chemise  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  crown  of  thorns,  with  any  quantity  of  lews, 
arms  and  bones  of  different  male  and  female  saints. 

Valencia  is  the  smallest  province  in  Spain.  The  Moors  believed  that 
heaven  was  suspended  over  this  portion  of  Spain,  and  imagined  that  a  portion 
of  it  had  originally  dropped  here  and  formed  Paradise.  Its  climate  is  consid- 
ered far  superior  to  that  of  Italy  for  consumptive  invalids. 

In  one  of  its  churches  there  is  a  pict- 
ure said  to  have  been  painted  under 
the  following  circumstances  :  the  Virgin 
Mary,  having  appeared  to  Martin  de 
Alvaro,  a  famous  Jesuit,  and  requested 
him  to  have  her  painted  just  as  she  af> 
1  peared,  Alvaro  described  her  minutely 
to  the  famous  artist  Joanes,  who  made 
several  attempts,  but  invariably  failed. 
At  length  he  joined  the  church,  tried 
again,  and  succeeded  to  a  miracle. 
When  the  picture  was  finished,  the  Vir- 
gin descended  to  examine  it,  and  pro- 
nounced it  perfect. 

St.  Vincent  is  the  patron  saint  of 
Valencia,  "  the  St.  Paul  of  Spain."  He 
came  into  the;  world  under  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances; in  fact,  before  he  came  he 
was  continually  barking  in  his  mother's 

womb.  His  mother,  having  consulted  the  bishop  on  the  subject,  was  assured 
that  she  would  bring  forth  a  "  mastiff  which  would  hunt  the  wolves  of  heresy 
to  hell."  It  is  alleged  he  never  changed  his  one  woollen  garment,  never  wore 
linen,  nor  washed  himself 

The  city  of  Saragossa  is  chiefly  noted  for  the  memorable  sieges  it  has 


SPANISH    PRIEST. 


320 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


sustained,  both  in  ancient  as  well  as  in  modern  times.  It  passed  from  the 
hands  of  the  Romans  into  those  of  the  Goths.  It  was  conquered  by  the  Moors, 
who  made  it  their  capital,  in  1017.  A  century  later  the  Moors  were  expelled 
by  Alphonso  of  Aragon,  after  a  long  siege.  Early  in  the  century,  Spain, 
wearied  with  resistance,  succumbed  to  the  genius  of  Napoleon,  and  the  town 
of  Sarao-ossa  alone  remained  unconquered.  Women  of  all  ranks  assisted  in 
its  defence,  forming  themselves  into  battalions  of  two  and  three  hundred,  and 
shirking  no  exposure  or  danger. 

The  French  were  so  exasperated  at  the  protracted  defence  offered  by  this 
sinole  town,  that  they  bribed  the  people  in  charge  of  a  powder  magazine  to 


BRIDGE    OF    SARACOSSA. 


blow  it  up  during  the  night.  The  enemy  then  pressed  forward,  and  com- 
menced a  vigorous  cannonade,  and  the  consequent  confusion  in  the  city  became 
fearful;  the  terror-stricken  defenders  were  about  to  capitulate;  the  French 
were  already  pouring  into  the  town  through  the  breaches  made  by  the  explo- 
sion and  their  cannons,  when  the  "  Maid  of  Saragossa  "  appeared  upon  the  scene, 
turned  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  and  immortalized  her  name.  Dressed  in  white, 
a  cross  hanging  from  her  neck,  her  dark  hair  falling  upon  her  shoulders,  her 
eyes  sparkling  with  the  excitement  of  her  resolve,  she  issued  from  the  church 
of  the  Donnas  del  Pillas  and,  disregarding  the  insults  of  the  soldiers,  passed 
through  the  streets  to  the  ramparts.     Mounting  the  breach,  she  seized  a  lighted 


SPAIN.  321 

match  from  the  hands  of  a  dying-  engineer  and  set  fire  to  his  piece  ;  then, 
kissing-  the  cross,  she  exclaimed:  "Death  or  victory ! "  and  reloaded  the 
cannon. 

The  despairing  people  were  seized  with  fresh  hope,  enthusiasm  filled  each 
saddened  heart,  a  great  cry  arose,  "  Long  live  Agostina !  "  and  the  fortunes  of 
the  day  were  changed. 

Napoleon,  having  driven  Ferdinand  VII.  from  the  Spanish  throne,  set  his 
brother  Joseph  up  in  his  place. 

In  1868  a  revolution  took  place  in  Madrid,  and  Isabella,  Queen  of  Spain, 
was  forced  to  Bee,  and  take  refuge  at  Paris.  Spain  remained  without  either  a 
monarchical  or  any  other  form  of  setded  government  until  1870,  when  Bis- 
marck proposed  to  place  on  the  vacant  Madrid  throne  the  dapper litde  Prince 
of  HohenzoUern,  of  Kaiser  William's  royal  stock  and  household.  Napoleon 
III.  demurred,  and  it  was  on  account  of  this  insignificant  pretext  that  the  ter- 
rible war  between  Germany  and  France  was  fought.  Before  it  had  ended, 
Amadeus,  son  of  Victor  Emmanuel  of  Italy,  was  offered  the  throne  by  General 
Prim,  and  agreed  to  accept  it.  He  was  pompously  inaugurated  as  king  at 
Madrid  on  the  ist  of  January,  1871.  For  this  work  Prim  was  assassinated 
while  he  was  passing  in  his  carriage  through  the  street,  during  the  royal  cere- 
mony. 

Amadeus  soon  found  that  he  had  not  got  on  a  bed  of  roses.  He  was  a 
foreigner,  not  a  Spanish  prince — and  that  was  crime  enough  in  the  eyes  of 
those  he  had  come  to  reign  over.  The  reception  that  he  met  with  from  his 
new  subjects  was  a  freezing  one ;  in  their  eyes  he  was  not  only  a  foreign  in- 
truder, but  the  son  of  the  blasphemous  and  excommunicated  King  of  Italy, 
who  was  at  that  moment  trampling  under  his  feet  the  dazzling  crown  of  St. 
Peter,  at  Rome.  He  had  fondly  hoped  that  all  the  Spanish  factions  and  par- 
ties would  be  disposed  to  unite  on  him.  Nothing  of  the  sort  occurred.  Car- 
lists,  Isabelinos,  Republicans,  Internationalists,  Intransigents — each  and  all 
saw  in  his  accession  an  excellent  opportunity  to  work  up  the  national  feeling 
on  their  particular  side,  and  their  intriguing  operations  at  once  commenced. 

Amadeus  then  renounced  the  crown,  and  the  mock  royalty  had  scarcely 
left  the  palace  ere  a  "  Republic "  was  proclaimed,  the  senate  and  cortes 
amalgamated  under  the  tide  of  "  National  Assembly,"  in  the  French  style,  and 
a  new  ministry  was  seated  in  the  cabinet. 

"Spain  a  republic! — what  next?"  The  news  fairly  took  away  the  breath 
of  everybody  in  Europe,  so  unexpected  and  stunning  was  it.  Anything  rather 
than  that  from. old  Spain!  But  the  telegraphic  despatches  were  emphatic — 
official.  Nevertheless,  people  at  once  nodded  their  heads,  giving  a  sly  laugh 
or  wink,  and  spoke  of  the  new-born  as  "  premature."  They  knew  best.  The 
new  republic  lasted  only  the  same  lengtli  of  time  that  Amadeus  had  reigned; 
it  gave  place  to  King  Alfonso  on  the  ist  of  January,  1875. 
21 


322 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Alfonso  XII.,  Francisco  d'Assisi  Fernando  Pio  Juan  Maria  de  la  Concep- 
cion  Gregorio,  was  born  November  2Sdi,  1857.      He  was  married,  1878,  to 

Maria  de  las  Mercedes, 
who  died  the  same  year. 
Alfonso  was  marriedaeain 
to  the  Archduchess  Chris- 
tina, of  Austria,  1879.  He 
died  in  1885. 

The  Spanish  passion 
for  public  shows,  games 
and  festivals  is  deeply 
rooted.  In  Spain  we  still 
meet  with  that  love  of 
pageant  which  with  us 
barely  survives.  The 
bull-fights,  so  often  de- 
scribed, are  a  remnant  of 
the  public  circus  of  im- 
perial Rome  ;  and  still  at- 
tract their  thousands  of 
ardent  spectators.  The 
great  fair  of  Seville  is  a 
centre  for  all  manner  of 
shows ;  and  the  natural 
love  of  dancing  finds  vent 
not  only  in  the  theatres, 
but  in  every  popular  re- 
KiNG  ALFONSO  XII.  ^,nion    throughout    Anda- 

lusia. Spanish  men  and  women,  though  reputed  grave,  dance  in  all  manner 
of  places,  and  in  all  styles.  How  many  names  of  dances  betray  their  Spanish 
origin,  such  as  the  Fandango,  the  Catucha,  the  Bolero.  Gustave  Dore  has 
drawn  various  groups  of  Andalusians  enjoying  this  their  favorite  pastime,  all 
full  of  grace  and  spirit,  and  giving  an  idea  of  determined  expression'  of  en- 
joyment to  which  the  phlegmatic  nations  of  the  North  can  afford  no  parallel. 
We  laugh  and  sing  because  we  are  amused,  and  with  no  thought  of  how  we 
do  either.  And  we  dance  because  we  like  the  motion  set  to  music ;  but  the 
Spaniard  dances  to  express  his  emotions  of  pleasure,  and  puts  mind  into  the 
action. 

But  even  more  universal  than  the  love  of  dancing  is  the  love  of  fighting 
inherent  in  the  people.  They  will  draw  out  the  knife  upon  every  pretext. 
Malaga  has,  perhaps,  the  worst  reputation  for  street  rows  and  impromptu 
duels ;  but  other  towns  are  not  far  behind. 


PORTUGAL.  323 

Still,  in  all  these  traits  of  character  is  the  germ  of  possible  restoration  in 
the  future— courage,  gayety  of  spirit,  a  keen  eye  for  beauty  in  motion,  in 
color,  in  costume — a  capacity  for  work  whenever  the  backward  institutions 
of  the  country  allow  a  chance  of  profit — these  things  have  remained  by  the 
Spanish  people  amidst  all  their  decadence. 


PORTUGAL. 


■""^.•-.ORTUGAL  is  one  of  the  smallest  European  states,  stretching  along 
the  western  side  of  the  Spanish  peninsula.  Its  extreme  length  is 
345  miles  north  and  south;  the  greatest  breadth  is  140  miles. 
The  climate  and  resources  are  similar  to  those  of  Spain. 

The  city  of  Lisbon,   the  capital  of  Portugal,   is  one  of  great 
*(D     antiquity  ;  but  it  has  been  subject  to  frequent  earthquakes. 
^  In    1755  Lisbon  was  at  the  height  of  its  prosperity;  but  in  ten  min- 

utes, on  November  ist  of  that  year,  the  greater  and  most  elegant  part  of  the 
city  was  one  mass  of  ruins.  Fifty  thousand  souls  perished ;  the  number  has 
been  put  as  high  as  80,000.     The  shock  was  felt  nearly  all  over  Europe. 

Camoens  is  the  only  Portuguese  writer  that  has  obtained  celebrity  in  other 
countries  than  his  own.  His  works,  however,  have  been  translated  into  most 
of  the  modern  languages  of  Europe,  and  he  has  been  counted  worthy  of  a 
place  among  the  great  epic  poets,  in  the  category  with  Homer,  Virgil  and 
Milton. 

The  subject  of  his  great  poem.  "  The  Lusiad,"  is  the  pointing  out  to  Eu- 
rope a  hitherto  unknown  track  to  India,  which  was  achieved  by  a  Portuguese 
fleet  under  command  of  Vasco  de  Gama.  The  eventful  and  unfortunate  life 
of  the  poet  himself  enabled  him  too  truly  to  depict  from  his  own  experience 
the  sorrows  of  love,  the  tumults  of  the  battle-field,  the  dangers  of  the  deep 
and  the  luxury  of  oriental  manners,  which  form  the  most  attractive  portions 
of  his  poem.  There  is  still  to  be  seen,  on  the  coast  of  China,  a  kind  of  nat- 
ural gallery  formed  by  the  rocks,  which  is  called  the  Grotto  of  Camoens.  At 
one  time  Camoens  was  shipwrecked ;  and  it  was  with  difficulty  he  reached  the 
shore,  swimming  with  one  hand  and  bearing  his  poem  above  the  water  with 
the  other,  while  everything  else  he  possessed  was  lost  for  ever. 

The  people  are  industrious  and  commercial :  they  raise  sheep  and  horned 
catde;  and  have  lead  and  iron  mines.  They  possess  two  large,  flourishing 
seaports,  Lisbon  and  Oporto ;  and  many  colonial  dependencies,  some  in 
Africa,  as  Senegambia  and  Mosambique,  and  others  in  Asia  and  the  Oceanic 
isles. 


ON    THE   COAST   OF    NORWAY. 


SCANDINAVIA. 

if6^^3  DENMARK,  NORWAY    AND    SWEDEN. 

^HE  Emperor  Charlemagne,  looking  out  one  day  over  the  blue 
Mediterranean,  saw  the  snake-like  galleys  of  the  Norsemen 
stealing  along  the  horizon,  and,  as  he  looked  on  them,  he  wept 
for  his  descendants. 

Already,  for  many  a  year,  as  soon  as  the  spring  sunshine 
had  unlocked  the  sea,  the  Vikings — sea-kings,  as  they  called 
themselves — stirred  by  a  resdess,  warlike  spirit,  had  pushed  out 
from  the  deep,  rocky  fiords  of  Scandinavia,  steering  south  and 
south-west.     In  the   names  Norway,  and    Normandy,    we   still 

trace  their  old  home,  and  the  scene  of  one  of  their  most  successful  descents. 

A  branch  of  the  great  Teutonic  family,  they  had    spread    over  Denmark, 

(324) 


;^2G  THE    GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

Norway,  and  Sweden,  from  which  lands,  centuries  eariler,  had  come  the  famous 
Goths — Teutons  too. 

To  guard  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe  against  the  Norsemen,  Charlemagne 
built  there  a  strong  castle,  which  served  as  a  nucleus  for  the  great  town  of 
Hamburq-.  Before  his  reign  their  warlike  fire  had  spent  itself  within  the  circle 
of  their  own  lands.  We  read,  in  particular,  of  a  desperate  battle  fought  in 
740,  on  the  heath  of  Braavalla,  between  Harold  Goldtooth,  the  Dane,  and 
Sigurd  Ring,  the  Swedish  king.  Harold,  old  and  blind,  died  like  a  hero  on 
the  field ;  and  Sigurd  ruled  in  Scandinavia. 

But  then,  sweeping  both  shores  of  the  North  sea,  began  their  wider  rang- 
ings,  which  have  left  deep  and  lasting  marks  upon  European  history.  One 
of  the  earliest  of  these  rovers,  Regnar  Lodbrok,  Sigurd's  son,  seized  by  Saxon 
Ella  as  he  was  ravaging  Lindisfarne,  shouted  his  war-song  to  the  last,  while 
snakes  were  stinoinir  him  to  death  in  a  Northumbrian  dungeon.. 

Words  cannot  paint  the  ferocity  of  these  northern  warriors.  Blood  was 
their  passion  ;  and  they  plunged  into  battle  like  tigers  on  the  spring.  Every- 
thing that  could  feed  their  craving  for  war  they  found  in  their  religion  and 
their  songs.  The  chief  god,  Odin,  was  the  beau  ideal  of  a  Norse  warrior;  and 
the  highest  delight  they  hoped  for  in  Valhalla,  their  heaven,  was  to  drink  end- 
less draughts  of  mead  from  the  skulls  of  their  enemies.  There  was,  they 
thought,  no  surer  passport  to  heaven  than  a  bloody  death  amid  heaps  of  sliain. 
And  their  songs,  sung  by  Skalds  when  the  feast  was  over,  and  still  heard 
among  the  simple  fur-clad  fishermen,  who  alone  remain  to  represent  the  ilvild 
Vikinger,  ring  with  clashing  swords  and  all  the  fierce  music  of  batde  to 
the  death. 

But  into  the  very  centre  of  this  dark,  raging  barbarism  sparks  of  truth 
fell,  which  brightened  and  blazed  until  the  fierce  idolatry  lay  in  ashes.  Ans- 
gar,  the  apostle  of  the  north  and  first  archbishop  of  Hamburg,  pressing  with 
a  few  monks  through  fen  and  forest,  early  in  the  ninth  century,  preached  the 
cross  at  the  court  of  Biorn,  on  the  banks  of  Maelarn. 

England  and  France,  as  was  natural  from  their  position,  suffered  most  in  the 
descents  of  the  Norsemen.  During  a  part  of  the  time  that  Harold  Haarfager 
(Fair-haired)  reigned  in  Norway  (863  to  931),  Alfred,  King  of  Wesse.x,  the 
mightiest  of  all  the  Norsemen's  foes,  was  laying  the  foundation  of  British 
greatness.  Little  more  than  a  century  later,  Alfred's  crown  passed  to  the 
Norseman,  Canute,  and  Norsemen  wore  it  for  twenty-four  years.  Then  a  litde 
gap,  and  William,  no  longer  a  Norseman,  but  a  Norman — mark  well  the 
change  of  name,  for  it  denotes  a  deeper  change  of  rough  sea-kings  into  steel- 
clad  knights — sat  as  a  conqueror  on  the  English  throne,  and  set  the  wild 
Norse  blood  flowing  down  through  the  whole  line  of  British  sovereigns. 

The  empire  of  Canute,  consisting  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  with' terri- 
tories along  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  also  of  England  and  part  of  Scodand, 


MARGARET   AWAITS   THE   ATTACK    OF   THE    VITALI. 


:1271 


328  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

was  broken  up,  and  Denmark  was  distracted  by  intestine  feuds  until  the  reign 
of  Maro-aret,  daughter  of  King'Waldemar,  who,  upon  the  death  of  her  son 
Olaus,  mounted  the  throne,  aUhougli  the  female  successor  was  not  recognized, 
and  by  her  beauty  so  gained  the  hearts  of  the  people,  that  she  was  further 
elected  Oueen  of  Norway.  Not  content  with  this,  she  marched  into  Sweden, 
and  for  seven  years  carried  on  a  devastating  war  ;,  and  finally,  by  the  treaty 
of  Calmar  in  1397,  was  proclaimed  queen  of  the  three  Scandinavian  countries. 
She  also  expelled  the  Vitali  or  Victuallers  from  the  Baltic — German  pirates 
who  were  so  named  because  they  had  brought  provisions  to  Stockholm  whilst 
it  was  in  a  state  of  siege.  By  her  valor  and  heroic  deeds  Margaret  deserved 
and  obtained  the  title  of  the  "Semiramis  of  the  North." 

The  union  of  these  three  nations  of  Scandinavia  existed,  however,  but 
nominally  and,  after  being  several  times  ruptured,  was  finally  broken  in  1523. 
In  1448,  after  the  death  of  Christopher  of  Bavaria,  Christian  I.,  the  first  of  the 
house  of  Oldenburg,  which  still  reigns  in  Denmark,  was  elected  to  the  throne. 
Norway  and  Denmark,  however,  remained  united  until  18 14,  when  Norway 
accepted  the  sovereign  of  Sweden  as  their  own. 

The  yoke  of  Denmark  was  shaken  off  by  Sweden  in  1523,  when  Gustavus 
Vasa,  whose  father  had  been  slain  in  a  previous  insurrection,  succeeded  in 
driving  out  the  Danes,  and  was  elected  king  the  same  year. 

His  grandson,  the  famous  Gustavus  Adolphus,  mounted  the  throne  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  and  by  his  great  ability  and  military  genius  soon  gained  the 
admiration  of  all  Europe.  He  was  victorious  in  wars  with  Denmark,  Russia 
and  Poland.     He  ended  his  victorious  career  at  the  battle  of  Lutzen  in  1632. 

The  battle  of  Lutzen  was  fought  between  the  Austrians,  under  the  cele- 
brated Wallenstein,  and  the  Swedo-German  army  under  Gustavus  Adolphus. 

Wallenstein  would  not  move,  and  Gustavus  had  to  attack.  A  thick  mist 
covered  the  ground.  The  armies  were  close  together,  but  neither  could  see 
much  of  the  other. 

The  king  sang,  with  his  soldiers,  Luther's  hymn,  "  A  mighty  fortress  is 
our  God  !  "  and  then  his  own  battle-song,  "  Verzage  nicht,  du  Haufiein  klein  !  " 
He  addressed,  first  to  the  Swedes,  then  to  the  Germans,  two  of  the  noblest 
orations  before  a  batde  that  history  records.  In  an  enthusiasm  of  heroism  he 
threw  off  his  cuirass,  and  cried,  "  God  is  my  armor !  "  Wallenstein  was  suf- 
fering from  gout  in  the  feet.  Although  his  stirrups  were  thickly  padded  with 
silk,  he  could  not  ride,  and  took  his  place  in  a  litter.  He  called  his  officers 
together  and  gave  them  his  orders,  which  were  to  fight  chiefly  on  the  defen- 
sive. Gustavus  gave  out  the  war-cry,  "  God  with  us  !  "  Wallenstein  gave  to 
his  troops  as  a  batde-cry,  "Jesus  Maria!"  About  eleven  o'clock  the  mist 
cleared  a  litde,  and  the  fiery  king  himself  headed  the  attack  upon  the  im- 
perialist lines  and  ditches. 

Gustavus,  riding  alone  with  his  cousin,  Duke  Franz  von  Lauenburg,  the 


f 


SCANDINAVIA.  399 

page,  Leubelfing,  and  a  groom,  stumbled  upon  an  imperial  ambush.  His 
horse,  maddened  by  a  bullet,  threw  its  rider  and  fled.  The  kinc-  received  a 
bullet  in  the  arm  and  another  shot  in  the  back.  This  second  shot  was,  as  the 
Swedes  maintain,  fired  by  Lauenburg,  who  left  the  king  to  his  fate,  rode  away, 
and  afterward  joined  the  imperialist  side.  German  historians  speak  doubt- 
fully on  the  point,  and  the  question  of  Lauenburg's  treachery  may  be  consid- 
ered an  open  one.  The  imperialist  soldiers  did  not  believe  that  the  kincr 
could  be  alone  with  so  small  an  escort.  They,  however,  took  Gustavus  to  be 
an  officer  of  rank  until  he  cried  out,  "I  am  the  king  of  Sweden,  and  seal  with 
my  blood  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of  Germany.  Alas !  my 
poor  queen  !  "  The  imperialist  soldiers  then  killed  and  stripped  him,  and  tjlie 
tide  of  battle  rolled  on  past  the  dead  body.  The  faithful  page,  who  alone  re- 
mained with  Gustavus,  tried  vainly  to  mount  the  king  upon  his  own  horse. 
The  poor  lad  died,  five  days  afterward,  in  Naumburg,  of  his  wounds. 

So  fell  Gustavus  Adolphus.  His  own  side  were  startled  when  the 
king's  horse  rushed  back  into  their  lines.  They  did  not  know  that  he  was 
dead;  they  supposed  him  taken  prisoner.  A  kind  of  fury  possessed  the 
troops,  and  the  spirit  of  Gustavus  rendered  them  invincible.  Wallenstein,  de- 
spite this  advantage,  could  not  claim  a  victory  at  Lutzen. 

Wallenstein  was  well  pleased  when  the  news  of  the  death  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  was  brought  to  him.  He  said  in  his  coarse  proverb-like  way,  "  Two 
cocks  could  not  exist  together  on  one  dunghill." 

Charles  XII.,  the  "Madman  of  the  North,"  was  born  in  1682  and  as- 
cended the  throne  in  1697.  During  his  minority  Russia,  Denmark  and  Po- 
land combined  to  despoil  him  of  many  of  his  dominions ;  but  their  suc- 
cesses were  of  short  duration.  At  the  head  of  his  troops  he  advanced 
from  one  triumph  to  another,  until,  intoxicated  with  success,  he  determined 
upon  the  conquest  of  Russia,  which  ended  in  a  terrible  defeat  at  Pultowa 
(1709).      He  was  finally  assassinated  during  the  siege  of  Frederikshald  in  1718. 

According  to  agreement,  Norway  was  allotted  to  Sweden  in  1S14  by  the 
coalition  against  Napoleon,  in  payment  for  her  aid  in  his  downfall ;  and  in 
1818  Bernadotte,  who  had  been  one  of  the  great  emperor's  generals,  but  who 
had  joined  the  coalition  against  him,  ascended  the  throne  with  the  tide  of 
Charles  XIV. 

Though  Denmark  looks  such  a  litde  country  on  the  map,  and  indeed  lost 
part  of  her  possessions,  Sleswig-Holstein,  in  the  war  with  Prussia,  of  1864,  she 
is  an  active,  intelligent  state. 

The  soil  of  Denmark  is  very  sandy  in  parts,  and  flat  where  the  peninsula 
abuts  upon  the  mainland  ;  but  the  islands  are  extremely  fertile,  and  the  Danish 
farms  are  well  cultivated;  and  there  is  a  fair  amount  of  manufactures.  The 
Dane  of  to-day  is  no  longer  the  fiery  warrior  he  once  was  ;  but  brave,  patient, 
thoughtful.     He  is  thrifty  rather  than  particularly  industrious ;  politically  calm 


330 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


and  constant  in  all  his  affections.  Quiet  as  he  seems,  the  Dane  has  yet  a 
fund  of  poetry  possible  of  awakening,  since  in  one  generation  he  has  had  for 
countrymen  Thorvvaldsen,  the  sculptor,  and  Hans  Christian  Andersen,  whose 
beautiful  stories  have  long  been  so  popular  in  England.  Thorvvaldsen  lived 
and  worked  at  Rome;  but  came  back  to  end  his  days  in  his  native  land,*and 
was  received  with  an  ardent  enthusiasm,  of  which  the  history  of  nations  in 

relation  to  their  great  men  affords  but  few 
parallels. 

The  celebrated  astronomer  Tycho  Brahe, 
remarkable  for  his  invention  of  instruments 
and  his  numerous  works,  was  a  native  of 
Denmark.  He  was  born  December  14th, 
1546,  and  died  Octobor  24tli,  1601. 

The  character  of  the  Norwegian  is 
moulded  by  that  of  the  bold,  mountainous 
country  which  he  inhabits — a  country  of  for- 
ests .and  of  fiords.  A  fiord  is  a  long  arm  of 
the  sea,  stretching  so  far  inland  that  it  comes 
to  resemble  an  immense  windinof  salt-water 
lake.  The  coast  of  Norway  is  indented  like 
a  huge  saw  with  these  fiords,  and  the  coasts 
are  inhabited  by  farmers  and  fishermen.  ; 

Among  the  Norwegian  mountaineers  none  exhibit  a  truer  picture  of  the  I 
grand  nature  which  surrounds  them,  than  the  race  which  inhabits  the  valley  " 
of  Hallingdal.  They  are  quick,  intelligent,  robust  and  agile.  The  violent 
jumps  and  leaps,  which  distinguish  their  national  dances,  are  so  famous  over  ; 
the  whole  country,  that  these  dances  have  got  the  general  name  of  "  Hailing,"  ' 
the  name  also  of  the  music  that  accompanies  them.  These  dancers  are  said 
to  touch  the  rafters  of  the  ceiling  with  their  toes. 

The  general  character  of  the  Swede  is  not  much  different  from  that  of  the 
Norwegian,  only  it  is  more  lowland.  Stockholm  is  a  large  flourishing  town, 
the  seat  of  the  royalty  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  where  the  ladies  talk  good 
French  and  the  arts  are  held  in  high  esteem. 

The  climate  of  Sweden  influences  not  only  the  country,  but  the  town  life. 
Sledge-driving  is  the  favorite  amusement  of  the  Stockholm  ladies  during 
the  winter  months,  and  the  more  severe  the  cold  the  greater  the  enjoyment 
of  the  season.  The  goodness  of  a  winter  in  Sweden  depends  on  the  hardness 
of  the  ice  and  the  quantity  of  die  snow.  Without  these,  winter  trade  and 
winter  pleasures  would  be  sadly  impeded.  The  spring  thaw  is  very  unpleas- 
ant, the  deep  snow  in  the  streets  of  Stockholm  has  to  be  broken  up  with  pick- 
axes, and  what  we  call  spring  weather  hardly  exists.  As  soon  as  the  disagree- 
able thaw  is  over,  summer  is  come. 


TYCHO   BRAHE. 


LAKE   OF   GENEVA 


SWITZERLAND. 


"^ARLY  in  the  Christian  era  Helvetia,  which  was  peopled  chiefly  by 
Gallic  tribes,  formed  a  part  of  the  Roman  empire.  Then,  over- 
run by  various  barbarous  races,  it  was  included  in  the  kingdom 
of  Burgundy  the  Less,  and  as  such  fell  under  the  rule  of  Charle- 
^V(j^  macrne.  After  his  death  it  was  annexed  to  the  Romano-Germanic 
empire.  Conspicuous  among  the  many  small  sovereignties  and  states, 
into  which  it  was  broken  even  while  owning  a  sort  of  dependence  on  the 
empire,  were  the  Forest  Cantons  of  Schvveitz,  Uri  and  Underwalden,  clustered 
round  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Lucerne. 

In  1273,  Count  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg  (Hawk's  Casde  on  the  Aar  in  north 
Switzerland)  was  elected  King  of  the  Romans,  or  Emperor  of  Germany.  He 
is  distinguished  in  history  as  the  founder  of  the  imperial  house  of  Austria. 
Lord  of  many  lands  and  towns  in  Switzerland,  he  held  besides,  by  the  free 
choice  of  the  foresters  themselves,  the  advocacy  or  protectorship  of  the  Forest 
States.  He  did  not  allow  his  elevation  to  the  imperial  throne  to  sever  the 
ties  which  bound  him  to  the  mountain-land.  He  spent  much  time  among  the 
Swiss  ;  and  the  many  benefits  and  enlarged  privileges  they  received  from  him 
were  repaid  on  their  part  by  unbroken  affection  and  unbounded  trust. 

But  when,  in  1298.  his  son  Albert,  Duke  of  Austria— which  had  been  taken 
by  Rodolph  from  Bohemia — was  made  emperor,  a  gloom  fell  upon  Switzer- 
land.    It  soon  became  clear  that  his  design  was  to  make  himself  despotic 

master  of  all  the  land.     The  Forest  Cantons  were  placed  under  two  bailitils 

(331) 


332  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

or  governors,  Gessler  and  Beringer,  whose  insolent  tyranny  soon  became 
intolerable. 

Three  of  the  oppressed  foresters,  Walter  Furst,  Arnold  von  Melchthal 
and  Werner  Stauffacher,  met  to  plan  the  deliverance  of  their  country.  On  a 
November  night,  in  the  meadow  of  Rudi,  by  Lake  Lucerne,  these  three  pa- 
triots, in  the  presence  of  thirty  tried  friends,  swore  beneath  the  starry  sky  to 
die,  if  need  were,  in  defence  of  their  freedom.  And  all  the  thirty  joining  in 
the  solemn  vow,  the  new  year's  night  was  fixed  for  striking  the  first  blow. 

Meanwhile  Gessler,  the  Austrian  bailiff  was  slain  by  one  of  the  thirty, 
William  Tell,  a  native  of  Burglen,  near  Altorf,  and  famous  over  all  the  coun- 
try for  his  skill  with  the  cross-bow.  The  romantic  story,  upon  which,  how- 
ever, some  doubt  has  been  cast  by  modern  historians,  runs  thus: 

Gessler,  to  try  the  temper  of  the  Swiss,  set  up  the  ducal  hat  of  Austria  on 
a  pole,  in  the  market-place  of  Altorf,  and  commanded  that  all  who  passed  it 
should  bow  in  homage.  Tell,  passing  one  day  with  his  littles  on,  made  no 
sien  of  reverence.  He  was  at  once  draof^red  before  Gessler,  who  doomed 
him  to  die,  unless  with  a  bolt  from  his  cross-bow  he  could  hit  an  apple  placed 
on  his  son's  head.  The  boy  was  bound,  and  the  apple  balanced.  Tell,  led  a 
long  way  off,  aiming  for  some  breathless  seconds,  cleft  the  little  fruit  to  the 
core.  But,  while  shouts  of  joy  were  ringing  from  the  gathered  crowd,  Gess- 
ler saw  that  Tell  had  a  second  arrow,  which  he  had  somehow  contrived  to 
hide  while  choosing  one  for  his  trying  shot.  "Why,"  cried  the  bailiff,  "hast 
thou  that  second  arrow  ?  "  And  the  bold  answer  was,  "  For  thee,  if  the  first 
had  struck  my  child." 

In  a  violent  rage,  Gessler  then  ordered  Tell  to  be  chained,  and  carried 
across  the  lake  to  the  prison  of  Kussnacht.  A  storm  arising  when  they  were 
half-way  over,  huge  waves  threatened  to  swamp  the  boat.  By  order  of  the 
governor,  Tell,  whose  knowledge  of  the  lake  was  remarkable,  was  unchained 
and  placed  at  the  rudder.  Resolved  on  a  bold  dash  for  liberty,  he  steered  for 
a  rocky  shelf  which  jutted  into  the  waters,  sprang  ashore,  and  was  soon  lost 
among  the  mountain  glens.  And  some  time  after,  hiding  in  a  woody  pass 
near  Kussnacht,  he  shot  the  tyrant  Gessler  dead  with  his  unerring  cross-bow. 

Thus  for  a  few  hours  Tell  shone  out  in  the  story  of  the  world  with  a  lustre 
that  has  never  since  orrown  dim.     Darkness  rests  on  his  after-life.     We  know 


&> 


nothing  more  than  that  he  fouorht  in  the  o-reat  batde  of  Morsfarten,  and  that 
in  1350  he  was  drowned  in  a  flooded  river. 

The  dawn  of  1308  saw  the  foresters  in  arms.  The  Austrian  castles  were 
seized.  The  Alps  were  all  alight  with  bonfires.  Albert,  hurriedly  gathering 
an  army,  was  advancing  to  crush  the  rising,  when  he  was  assassinated  at  the 
Reuss  by  his  nephew,  Duke  John  of  Suabia.  To  their  lasting  honor,  be  it 
said-  that  the  three  revolted  cantons  refused  to  shelter  the  murderer,  who  lived 
and  died  iniserablv  in  Italy. 


SWITZERLAND.  333 

Three  great  battles — Morgarten,  Sempach  and  Nefels — mark  the  steps  by 
which  the  brave  Swiss  achieved  their  independence. 

Seven  years  after  Albert's  death,  his  son,  Duke  Leopold  of  Austria,  re- 
solving to  pierce  the  mountains  of  Schvveitz  and  punish  the  audacious  herds- 
men, left  Zug  with  an  army  of  15,000  men,  carrying  great  coils  of  rope  to 
hang  his  prisoners.  The  pass  of  Morgarten,  which  ran  for  three  miles  be- 
tween the  steep  rocks  of  Mount  Sattel  and  the  litde  Lake  Egeri,  was  the  only 
way  by  which  heavy  cavalry  could  pass  into  the  doomed  canton.  With  the 
dawn  of  a  November  morning,  as  the  sun  shone  red  through  a  frosty  focr,  the 
Austrians  entered  the  pass — a  host  of  steel-clad  knights  in  front,  and  the 
footmen  following  in  close  order.  Their  advance  was  known  and  prepared 
for.  Fourteen  hundred  herdsmen,  who  had  commended  their  cause  and  them- 
selves to  the  God  of  battles,  lined  the  rocky  heights.  Fifty  exiles  from 
Schweitz,  burning  to  regain  an  honored  place  among  their  countrymen,  gath- 
ered on  a  jutting  crag  that  overhung  the  entrance  of  the  defile,  and  when  the 
Austrians  were  well  in  the  trap,  hurled  down  great  rocks  and  beams  of  wood 
upon  the  close-packed  ranks.  Amid  the  confusion,  which  was  increased  by 
the  fog,  the  Swiss  rushed  from  the  heights,  and  with  their  halberts  and  iron- 
shod  clubs  beat  down  the  knights,  who  fell  back  upon  the  footmen,  tram- 
pling them  to  death.  It  was  a  woful  day  for  Austria,  and  for  chivalry,  when 
the  steel  cuirass  and  the  knightly  lance  went  down  before  the  pikes  and  clubs 
of  a  few  untrained  footmen.  Duke  Leopold  scarcely  saved  himself  by  a 
headlong  flight  over  the  mountains  to  Winterthur,  where  he  arrived  late  in  the 
evening,  a  haggard,  beaten  man. 

The  valor  of  the  Schweitzers  was  so  remarkable  in  this  batde,  and  through- 
out the  orreat  future  stru<j2:le,  that  the  name  of  their  canton  was  extended  to 
the  whole  country,  henceforth  named  Switzerland. 

The  three  cantons  renewed  their  solemn  league  of  mutual  defence.  Lu- 
cerne joined  the  Confederation  in  1335  ;  Zurich  and  Zug  in  1351  ;  Glarus  and 
Berne  soon  followed,  thus  completing  a  list  of  the  eight  ancient  cantons  of  the 
infant  republic.  A  treaty,  ratified  at  Lucerne,  is  remarkable  as  being  a  dis- 
tinct acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  Austria  that  the  Swiss  had  triumphed  and 
were  free.  The  ceaseless  industry  and  steady  economy  of  die  mountaineers 
proved  them  worthy  of  the  freedom  they  had  so  bravely  won. 

But  their  task  was  not  yet  done.  Bent  on  crushing  the  Confederation 
with  one  terrible  blow,  Leopold,  Duke  of  Suabia,  one  of  the  Hapsburg  line, 
marched  from  Baden  towards  Lucerne.  He  found  his  way  barred  at  Sem- 
pach by  1,300  men,  who  held  the  wooded  heights  round  the  lake.  The  Aus- 
trian force  consisted  of  4,000  horse  and  i  ,400  foot.  At  the  hastily  summoned 
council  the  arroeant  nobles  were  loud  in  their  cry  that  the  peasant  rabble 
should  be  crushed  at  once,  without  waiting  for  the  rest  of  the  army.  And 
rashly  the  duke  gave  orders  for  the  fight.     As  the  broken  mountain-ground 


334  THE   GOLDEiX   TREASURY. 

was  unfit  for  cavalry  movements,  the   knights,  dismounting,  formed  a  solid 
mass  of  steel,  blazing  in  the  hot  harvest  sun. 

■  A  short  prayer,  and  the  Swiss  were  formed  for  the  charge.  On  they  came, 
the  gallant  mountain-men,  some  with  boards  on  their  lett  arms  instead  of 
shields.  But  the  iron  wall  stood  fast,  with  its  bristling  fence  unbroken  ;  sixty 
of  the  little  band  lay  bleeding  on  the  earth  ;  the  wings  of  the  Austrian  line  were 
curvino-  round  to  hem  them  in  a  fatal  ring,  when  Arnold  von  Winkelried,  a 
knii^ht  of  Underwalden,  dashing  with  open  arms  on  the  Austrian  lances,  swept 
together  as  many  as  he  could  reach,  and,  as  they  pierced  his  brave  breast,  bore 
their  points  with  him  to  the  ground.  Like  li'^htning  the  Swiss  were  through 
the  gap ;  the  Austrian  line  was  broken  ;  all  was  rout  and  dismay.  Two  thou- 
sand knights  perished  on  the  field.  Duke  Leopold  himself  died  while  gal- 
lantly defending  the  torn  and  bloody  banner  of  Austria. 

This  brilliant  success  was  followed,  two  years  later,  by  another  at  Nefels, 
in  which  6,000  Austrians  were  scattered  by  a  handful  of  Swiss.  Here,  as  at 
Morgarten,  rocks  flung  from  the  heights  caused  the  first  disorder  in  the  Aus- 
trian lines. 

At  the  diet  of  Zurich,  held  in  1393,  a  general  law-martial,  called  the  Sem- 
pach  Convention,  was  framed  to  bind  the  eight  cantons  together  in  firmer 
league.  It  enacted  that  it  was  the  duty  of  every  true  Switzer  "  to  avoid  un- 
necessary feuds,  but  where  a  war  was  unavoidable,  to  unite  cordially  and 
loyally  together;  not  to  flee  in  any  battle  before  the  contest  should  be  decided, 
even  if  wounded,  but  to  remain  masters  of  the  field;  not  to  attempt  pillage 
before  the  general  had  sanctioned  it;  and  to  spare  churches,  convents,  and  de- 
fenceless females." 

So  Switzerland  shook  ofif  the  yoke  of  Austria;  and  never  since,  but  once, 
when  for  a  time  Napoleon  laid  his  giant  grasp  upon  her,  has  the  liberty  won 
at  Morgarten  and  Sempach  been  imperilled. 

The  land  in  Switzerland  is  exceedingly  subdivided;  the  farmers  own  their 
own  ground,  which  is  chiefly  pasture  land.  When  the  snow  melts,  the  flocks 
are  sent  up  to  graze  on  higher  levels  ;  in  winter  they  are  brought  down  and 
housed.     A  great  staple  of  production  and  commerce  is  cheese. 

The  occupations  of  the  people  are  exceedingly  various  ;  they  are  herdsmen, 
hunters,  guides,  and  makers  of  clocks  and  watches.  In  Geneva  the  watch 
trade  is  greatly  developed,  and  gives  rise  to  large  exports.  The  people  of 
Berne  are  intelligent  and  progressive,  influenced  by  the  excellent  university 
there ;  and  the  town  ranks  the  first  in  Switzerland.  Geneva  is,  however,  much 
resorted  to  by  foreigners  as  a  residence.  Every  summer,  tourists  by  the  thou- 
sand pour  into  the  Swiss  valleys ;  then  the  landlords  open  the  huge  hotels, 
many  of  which  have  been  shut  up  in  the  winter  time,  and  make  up  hundreds 
of  beds,  and  kill  beasts,  and  lay  in  provisions  for  the  table-d' holes,  where  all 
the  guests  dine  in  long  rows.     Then  the  men  of  the  villaires  at  the  foot  of  the 


3^6 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Alps  bestir  themselves  to  go  up  as  guides  with  adventurous  travellers.  The 
majority  of  these  ascents  are  accomplished  in  safety,  but  sometimes  fearful 
falls  occur,  in  which  not  only  the  traveller  but  the  guide  loses  his  life  ;  and  then 
there  is  mourning  in  the  village,  and  a  weeping  widow  and  orphans.  The 
o^uides  generally  tie  the  travellers  together  with  themselves  by  a  long  rope,  so 
that  if  one  man  slips  he  is  upheld  by  the  others  ;  and  so  they  go  winding  up 
and  up,  often  cutting  steps  in  the  steep  snow  with  their  hatchets,  until  they 
reach  the  top. 

The  beautiful  valley  of  Chamouni  lies  3,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  and  is  one  of  the  most  popular  places  of  resort  in  Switzerland.  Near 
Chamouni  is  Mont  Blanc,  the  far-famed  "  Monarch  of  Mountains."  The 
Lake  of  Geneva  or  Leman,  at  the  south-west  of  Switzerland,  lies  about 
1,230  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and   has  about  the  same  number  of 

feet  in  depth  ;  its  waters  are  a  beauti- 
ful blue,  and  it  is  considered  by  many 
the  most  beautiful  of  Swiss  lakes. 

Lord  Byron  passed  the  summer 
of  181 6  on  the  banks  of  the  Lake  of 
Geneva ;  and  here  he  wrote  his  third 
canto  of  "  Childe  Harold,"  his  "  Man- 
fred," and  his  "  Prisoner  of  Chillon  ;  " 
and  the  sublime  scenery  ot  this  re- 
gion has  been  best  described  in  his 
passionate  poetry. 

On  the  lake  is  the  castle  of  Chil- 
lon, immortalized  by  Byron.  His 
name  may  be  seen  here  cut  in  the  pil- 
lars in  connection  with  those  of  Eu- 
gene Sue,  Victor  Hugo  and  George 
Sand.  Here  Bonnivard,  a  Genevese 
patriot,  was  imprisoned  by  order  of  Charles  V.  of  Savoy  for  six  long  years. 

Many  Swiss  have  distinguished  themselves  in  intellectual  achieve- 
ments. Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  and  Sismondi  were  both  of  this  nation. 
Calvin  was  a  preacher  at  Geneva,  and  St.  Francois  de  Sales  was  a 
Catholic  bishop  of  the  diocese.  In  natural  philosophy  many  Swiss  have  ex- 
celled;  in  art  they  have  been  less  known.  Tiny  as  their  country  is,  they 
have  always  been  a  very  creditable  and  much  respected  part  of  the  great 
European  family.  Nor  would  they  exchange  their  Alps  and  vales  for  any 
country  in  the  world.  When  absent,  their  home-sickness  is  proverbial,  and 
soldiers  have  sometimes  died  of  it. 


CALVIN. 


THE    NETHERLANDS. 


"  In  tlie  market-place  of 
Bruges  stands  the  belfry, 
old  and  brown  ; 

Thrice  consumed  and  thrice 
rebuilded,  still  it  watcln^s 
o'er  the  town. 

As  the  summer  morn  was 
breaking,  on  that  lofty- 
tower  I  stood, 

And  the  world  threw  off  the 
darkness  like  the  weeds 
of  widowhood." 

— Lotigfdlou. 

^TOLLAND  and  V>(t\- 
05^-'-    giiim  were  former- 
ly only  one  country,  the 
Netherlands,    and    were 
for   a   long    time    imder 
the    dominion   of  Spain. 
They  are,  however   now 
divided, and  present  some 
difference  in  the  charac- 
ters of  the  people,  as  w-ell 
as  in  religious  views. 
Belgium  is  a  Catho- 
esses   the    most   beautilul    old 
eious   orders  "are  so  abundant, 
ariety,  that,  like  that  of  the  celes- 
is  bewildering  to  the  un- 
practisec' 

Sunday  is  better  kept  in  Belgium  than  in  France,  and  really 
is  a  day  of  pious  rest.  In  fact,  considering  how  near  it  is  to  France,  and  that  the 
flat  frontier  provinces  are  covered  with  a  network  of  railways,  encouraging 
constant  communication,  it  is  very  singular  to  see  how  much  of  the  quaint  old 
German  spirit  lingers  in  the  smaller  country,  and  how  serious  and  quiet  she 
is.  Doubtless,  had  the  French  occupation  under  Napoleon  continued,  the  con- 
stant pressure  of  French  institutions  would  in  time  have  somewhat  assimilated 
the  habits  of  the.  two  peoples.  The  French,  however,  met  with  a  desperate 
resistance,  which  Henri  Conscience  has  well  described  in  his  "Peasants'  W  ar," 
and  when  Napoleon  was  struck  down,  Belgium  was  set  free ;  being,  in  the 
-2  (•■«7) 


338 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


first  instance,  united  with   Holland,  and  in  1S30  created  into  a  separate  king- 
dom under  King  Leopold. 

Brussels,  the  capital,  is  a  lively  town,  and  is  said  by  some  to  be  a  smaller 
Paris;  but  though  the  new  quarters  and  boulevards  might  for  a  moment 
deceive  the  traveller,  a  walk  into  the  grand  old  market-place  would  soon 
undeceive  him  and  show  him  he  was  in  Belgium.  It  is  a  sort  of  neutral 
<rround — French  exiles,  who  do  not  like  London,  setding  here.     Books  for- 


A    STREET    IN    GHENT. 

bidden  in  France  are  turned  out  of  the  Brussels  presses  ;  and  reprints  of  Eng- 
lish and  American  books  are  also  largely  made.  Brussels  is,  moreover,  a  gay 
town  in  regard  to  theatres,  concerts,  and  balls.  Ghent,  on  the  contrary,  is 
rich  and  manufacturing.  Her  burghers  have  been  solid  people  since  the 
days  of  Philip  Van  Artevelde,  the  warrior-brewer.  There  are  crowds  of  tall, 
smoking,  manufacturing  chimneys  in  Ghent;  cottons,  woollens,  and  iron  work 
being  produced  here.  Louvain  is  the  seat  of  a  great  university.  Bruges  is 
quiet,  and  full  of  institutions  for  the  poor,  the  sick  and  the  insane. 


THE    NETHERLANDS. 


339 


The  Hollander  or  Dutchman  is  noted  for  his  pertinacity  of  character. 
Holland  or  Hollow-land  is  so-called  because  large  tracts  of  the  land  are  liter- 
ally below  the  sea-level,  and  the  ocean  restrained  by  a  gigantic  dyke,  kept  up 
with  the  greatest  care.  Who  but  Dutchmen  would  have  had  the  dogged 
courage  and  perseverance  necessary  for  such  a  work,  especially  as  they  have 
been  nearly  drowned  out  more  than  once  ?  But  though  the  land  be  flat,  there 
are  plenty  of  picturesque  things  upon  it.  Spires,  church  towers,  bright  farm- 
houses, their  windows  glancing  in  the  sun  ;  long  rows  of  willow  trees,  their 
bluish  foliage  ruffling  up  white  in  the  breeze  ;  grassy  embankments  of  a  tender 
vivid  green,  partly  hiding  the  meadows  behind,  and  crowded  with  glitterino- 
gaudy-painted  gigs  and  wagons,  loaded  with  rosy-cheeked,  laughing  country 
girls,  decked  out  in  ribbons  of  many  more  colors  than  the  rainbow,  all  stream- 
ing in  the  wind — these  are  the  objects  which  strike  the  eye  of  the  traveller  from 
seaward,  and  form  a  gay  view  of  the  coast  of  Holland  as  he  steams  along  its 
coast  and  up  its  rivers. 

The  Dutchman's  ancestors  were  a  great  commercial  people.  They  had 
colonies  in  the  eastern  seas,  and  fleets  upon  the  waters,  and  were  the  Vene- 
tians of  the  North.  They  are  no  longer  this,  and  the  ancient  greatness  has 
departed  ;  but  they  are  still  an  active,  productive  people,  of  very  curious  man- 
ners and  habits,  and  wonderfully  unlike  the  rest  of  the  world.  One  of  their 
characteristics  is  exceedinof  cleanliness.  The  house-washing-  of  Holland  is 
proverbial.  Not  only  the  insides,  but  the  outsides,  are  sluiced  and  mopped, 
and  the  brick  pavements  shine  with  water.  In  fact,  Dutch  tiles  were  made  to 
be  washed. 

Although  we  have  been  of  necessity  brief  in  our  description  of  the  state 
of  Holland,  we  will  not  omit  the  legend  firmly  believed  in  by  sailors  from  gen- 
eration to  generation — that  of  the  "  Flying  Dutchman,"  the  "  Phantom  Ship." 
The  sailor  believes  that  a  ghostly  vessel,  governed  by  a  ghostly  admiral  in 
full  Dutch  costume,  haunts  the  high  seas,  having  been  condemned  for  mis- 
deeds done  in  the  flesh,  and  the  wood,  to  drive  eternally  before  the  gale. 
Again  and  again  have  mariners  declared  that  they  have  been  startled  by  the 
sudden  bearing-down  upon  them  of  a  huge,  square-built  barque,  which,  when 
they  hailed,  they  saw  to  be  a  ship  of  ghostly  transparence,  so  that  the  moon 
could  be  seen  through  her  sails.  This  vision  they  consider  an  omen  of  mis- 
fortune ;  and  its  appearance  at  midnight,  or  looming  in  a  dense  fog,  strikes 
terror  into  the  seaman's  heart.  It  is  wonderful  how  such  tales,  once  believed, 
propagate  themselves  ;  so  that  many  a  harmless  ship,  passing  rapidly  and  in 
silence  before  another,  has  doubtless  been  firmly  believed  to  be  the  dreaded 
"Flying  Dutchman."  This  legend  of  the  sea  appears  to  have  remotely  sug- 
gested Coleridge's  ballad  of  the  "Ancient  Mariner." 


HEIDELBERG    CASTLE,    FROM    THE    NECKAR. 


GERMANY. 


JHE  startling  events  produced  by  the  Austrian  and  Prussian  war 
of  1866,  and  still  later  by  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870  and 
1871,  have  realized  the  fondest  dreams  of  German  writers  and 
German  politicians,  that  of  a  common  nationality.  The  wildest 
hopes  of  Prussia  have  been  realized,  and  not  only  is  Germany  to- 
day united  (with  the  exception  of  that  portion  which  belongs  to  the  Austrian 
Empire),  but  two  of  France's  most  populous  provinces,  viz.,  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine, comprising  5,665  square  miles  (nearly  1,000  square  miles  larger  than 
the  State  of  Connecticut),  and  containing  over  one  million  and  a  half  of  in- 
habitants, have  been  added  to  its  territory. 

The  states  constituting  the  modern  German  Empire  extend  over  a  large 
area  of  Central  Europe,  between  the  Baltic  sea  on  the  north,  and  Austria 
and  Switzerland  on  the  south ;  from  the  Netherlands  and  the  North  sea  on 

(340) 


GERMANY. 


341 


the  west,  to  Austria  and  Russia  on  the  east,  embracing  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
million  of  square  miles. 

Within  this  extensive  range  the  people  are  nearly  throughout  German, 
and,  with  some  minor  modifications,  the  language,  customs,  usages  and  man- 
ners are  the  same.  It  is  in  regard  to  religious  and  social  institutions  that  the 
chief  differences  are  to  be  noted.  Southern  Germany  is  Catholic ;  Northern 
Germany  has  for  the  most  part  embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran  or 
Reformed  Church. 

The  German  nation  has  a  better  right  than  any  other  in  Christendom  to 
take  pride  in  its  reigning  House.  For  nine  centuries  the  Hohenzollerns — as 
successively  counts  {Grafen)  of  Zollern,  burggraves  of  Nuremberg,  prince- 
electors  of  Brandenburg  and  kings  of  Prussia — have  borne  a  prominent  and 
ever-increasing  part  in  German  history;  and  in  our  own  days  the  head  of  the 
family  has  become  hereditary  head  of  the  newly-created  Empire  of  Germany. 
Countino-  from  Frederick  I.,  who  eio^ht  centuries  asfo  became  Burgforrave  of 
Nuremberg,  down  to  Kaiser  William,  we  find  some  five-and-twenty  names, 
mostly  in  direct  succession  from  father  to  son.  Among  these  are  many  able 
men,  only  a  few  weak  ones,  and  not  a  single  absolute  blockhead  or  scoundrel. 
All  of  them  are  of  pure  German  blood,  for  scarcely  a  Hohenzollern  has  taken 
any  other  than  a  German  wife. 

The  present  ruler  of  Prussia  is  Frederick  William  Victor  Albert,  born 
January  27th,  1859.  He  succeeded  his  father,  Frederick  III.,  under  the  title 
of  William  II.  Of  his  character  and  promise  we  have  as  yet  no  good  grounds 
for  forming  a  definite  opinion,  as  the  various  reports  concerning  him  appear 
to  be  colored  either  by  partiality  or  prejudice. 

The  most  prominent  struggle  in  German  history  during  the  seventeenth 
century  was  what  is  known  as  the  "Thirty  Years'  war,"  of  which  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  the  King  of  Sweden,  on  the  one  side,  and  Albert,  Count  Wallen- 
stein,  a  rich  and  distinguished  Bohemian  officer,  on  the  other,  were  the  princi- 
pal characters.  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Lutzen,  which 
was  fought  November  6th,  1632  ;  but  his  troops  gained  the  victory.  In  1634, 
Wallenstein,  being  then  fifty  years  of  age,  was  assassinated.  France,  Spain, 
Italy  and  the  Netherlands,  as  well  as  Sweden  and  the  various  German  na- 
tions, were  all  drawn  into  this  war,  which  was  really  a  conflict  between 
Protestantism  and  Catholicism. 

The  peace  of  Westphalia,  signed  at  Munster,  closed  this  eventful  war. 
The  leading  terms  of  this  celebrated  treaty,  which  is  looked  upon  as  having 
laid  the  groundwork  of  modern  Europe,  were — i.  That  France  should  retain 
Metz,  Toul,  Verdun  and  the  whole  of  Alsace  except  Strasburg  and  a  few 
other  cities ;  receiving,  instead  of  these,  two  fortresses — Breisach  and  Phil- 
ippsburg,  which  were  regarded  as  the  keys  of  Upper  Germany.  2.  That 
Holland  should  be  a  free  state,  independent  alike  of  Spain  and  of  the  empire. 


342  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

3.  That  the  Swiss  Cantons  should  be  free.  4.  That  Sweden,  receiving  Stral- 
sund,  Wismar  and  other  important  posts  on  the  Baltic,  should  also  be  paid 
;j55,ooo,ooo,  as  indemnification  for  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

The  central  point  of  the  history  of  Germany  in  the  eighteenth  century,  was 
the  Seven  Years'  war,  of  which  Frederick  the  Great,  of  Prussia,  was  the  prin- 
cipal hero.  In  this  war,  Austria,  France,  Russia,  Saxony,  Sweden  and  Po- 
land were  arrayed  against  Prussia  and  England.  In  this  war  the  life-blood 
of  more  than  a  million  had  been  shed,  but  the  face  of  Germany,  on  the  whole, 
remained  unchanged. 

The  beginning  of  the  present  century  was  signalized  by  the  wars  with 
Napoleon  I.  In  the  late  Franco-German  war,  to  which  we  will  allude  further 
on,  Germany  again  wrested  from  France  what  had  been  ceded  to  her  at  the 
peace  of  Westphalia. 

Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia  was  one  of  the  cleverest  and  most  arbitrary 
of  mankind ;  he  raised  the  country  from  a  small  German  kingdom  to  be  the 
rival  of  Austria.  He  was  brought  up  by  a  strict,  tyrannical  father,  King  Wil- 
liam, and  was  obliged  to  rise  to  a  signal  every  morning,  and  to  be  clean,  neat 
and  completely  dressed  in  ten  minutes.  When  a  grown-up  man,  Frederick 
set  to  work  to  make  all  Prussians  like  himself,  and  the  national  character  has 
always  preserved  the  stamp.  The  people  look  as  if  they  rose  to  a  minute, 
and  turned  themselves  out  perfectly  tidy  in  ten  minutes.     They  are  accurate. 

The  Prussian  provinces  on  the  Rhine  are  somewhat  different.  In  Prussia 
proper  the  majority  are  Lutheran  Protestants,  and  modern  in  their  ways.  In 
the  Rhineland  they  are  chiefly  Catholics,  and  the  country  is  full  of  old  legends 
and  quaint  traditions. 

Our  American  poet  Longfellow  has  written  a  charming  book,  called  "Hy- 
perion," about  the  Rhine  and  the  old  cities  on  its  banks ;  and  the  French  poet 
Victor  Hugo  has  written  another.  The  Rhine  is  bordered  by  steep  hills,  on 
which  the  vine  is  cultivated  and  forms  the  great  occupation  of  the  people. 
On  family  feast-days  it  is  pretty  to  see  fathers  and  mothers  and  children  sit- 
ting in  the  inn-gardens  drinking  coffee  together.  The  young  men  wear  long 
beards  and  smoke  a  great  deal. 

One  of  the  great  industrial  centres  of  Prussia  is  the  mining  district  of  the 
Hartz,  on  the  confines  of  Prussia  and  what  was  once  the  Kingdom  of  Hanover. 
This  mountainous  country,  of  which  the  Brocken  is  the  chief  feature,  is  rich  in 
silver,  lead,  and  copper  ;  and  also  in  wild  legends,  ascribing  the  possession  of 
untold  treasures  to  the  demons  of  the  hills. 

The  greatest  of  German  legends  is  the  old  epic  poem,  the  "  Nibelungen- 
lied,"  or  the  Song  of  the  Nibelungen,  one  of  the  greatest  poems  of  the 
world.  Siegfried  is  represented  as  having  slain  a  dragon,  vanquished  the  an- 
cient fabulous  royal  race  of  the  Nibelungen,  and  taken  away  their  immense 
treasures  of  gold  and  gems.     He  wooes,  and  finally  wins,  the  beautiful  Chriem- 


GERMANY. 


343 


hild,  but  is  treacherously  killed  by  the  fierce  and  covetous  Hacren,  who  seeks 
the  treasures  of  the  Nibelungen,  and  who  skilfully  draws  from  Chrieinhild  the 
secret  of  the  spot  where  alone  Siegfried  is  mortal,  and  fatally  plunges  a  lance 
between  his  shoulders 
in  a  royal  chase. 

Berlin,  the  capital  of 
Prussia,  is  situated  on 
the  river  Spree,  a  small 
sluesfish  stream,  and  is 
ordinarily  the  residence 
of  the  monarch.  It  is 
one  of  the  largest  and 
handsomest  cities  in  Eu- 
rope, being  about  twelve 
miles  in  circumference. 
It  has  a  garrison  of  20,- 
000  soldiers.  The  Spree 
intersects  the  city,  insu- 
lating one  of  its  quarters, 
and  is  crossed  by  more 
than  fifty  bridges  in  va- 
rious parts  of  the  city. 
The  name  of  this  river 
has  given  rise  to  the 
joke  that  Berlin  is  al- 
ways drunk,  because  at 
all  times  on  the  Spree. 

Berlin  has  the  air  of 
the  metropolis  of  a  king- 
dom of  yesterday :  no 
Gothic  churches,  narrow 
streets,  fantastic  gable-ends,  no  historical  stone  and  lime,  no  remnants  ol  the 
picturesque  age,  to  recall  the  olden  time.  Voltaire  in  satin  breeches  and 
powdered  peruke,  Frederick  the  Great  in  jack-boots  and  pigtail,  and  the 
French  classical  age  of  Louis  XIV.,  are  the  men  and  times  Berlin  calls  up  to 
the  traveller.  Berlin  is  a  city  of  palaces;  that  is,  of  huge,  barrack-like  edifices, 
with  pillars,  statues,  etc.,  etc. 

The  fixtures  which  strike  the  eye  in  the  streets  of  Berlin  are  vast  fronts  of 
buildings,  ornaments,  statues,  inscriptions,  a  profusion  of  gilding,  guard-houses, 
sentry-boxes ;  the  movables  are  sentries  presenting  arms  every  minute,  offi- 
cers with  feathers  and  orders  passing  unceasingly,  hackney  droskies  rattling 
about,  and  numbers  of  well-dressed  people.     The  streets  are  spacious  and 


STREET    IN    BERLIN. 


344 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


straicfht,  with  broad  margins  on  each  side  for  foot-passengers,  and  a  band  of 
plain  flag-stones  on  these  margins  makes  them  much  more  walkable  than  the 
streets  of  most  continental  towns. 

About  sixty  miles  from  Berlin,  Wittenberg  is  situated.  This  town  is  noted 
for  beino-  the  place  where  Martin  Luther  commenced  his  war  against  the  evils 
and  abuses  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  He  was  professor  of  philosophy  and 
theology  in  the  University  of  Wittenberg,  the  same  school  where  Shake- 
speare's Hamlet  studied.  The  Schloss  Kirche  is  the  principal  building.  It 
was  ao-ainst  the  doors  of  this  church  that  Luther  hung  up  his  ninety-five  argu- 
ments against  the  Church  of  Rome,  offering  to  defend  them  against  all-comers. 
In  the  centre  of  the  church  are  two  tablets  set  into  the  floor,  pointing  out  the 
spot  where  Luther  and  his  friend  Melancthon  lie  buried. 

Martin  Luther  was  born  November  loth,  1484,  in  Eisleben,  a  town  in 
Prussian  Saxony.  He  was  the  son  of  a  miner.  He  studied  at  Eisenach,  beg- 
ging in  the  meantime  to  obtain  subsistence.     A  thunderbolt  having  killed  one 

of  his  companions  at  his 
r     /,=J^  1   p5iL.l=J  A  f^      t\  side,   caused    him    to  em- 

fc=*\«      -  brace    religion.       He    en- 

tered the  convent  of  the 
Augustins,  and  became 
professor  of  theology  in  the 
University  of  Wittenberg. 
Having  studied  the  writ- 
ings of  John  Huss,  he  rap- 
idly acquired  a  taste  for  his 
opinions.  The  sale  of  in- 
dulgences by  the  pope 
furnished  him  an  occasion 
to  open  the  controversy. 
He  published  an  argument 
in  which  he  denied  their 
efficacy.  The  quarrel  soon 
became  excited.  Luther, 
who  at  first  attacked  but 
the  abuses  of  the  church, 
now  attacked  the  authority 
of  the  pope,  the  belief  in 
purgatory,  the  celibacy  of 
the  priests,  the  possession 
of  temporal  wealth,  the 
He  married  a  nun  named 
Catherine  de  Bore,  by  whom  he  iiad  six  children.     He  was  excommunicated 


MARTIN    L-UTHER. 


doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and    the   mass. 


GERMANY.  345 


e 


by  the  pope,  and  Henry  VIII.,  of  England,  wrote  strongly  against  him.  H 
burnt  the  bulls  of  the  pope,  and  responded  to  Henry  VIII.  in  the  strongest 
terms.  The  Duchy  of  Saxony,  Denmark  and  Sweden  took  the  part  of  Luther 
in  this  quarrel.  At  the  Diet  of  Worms  he  supported  his  opinions.  The  first 
Diet  of  Spire,  held  in  1526,  acknowledged  the  liberty  of  conscience  ;  that  held 
in  1529,  desiring  to  rescind  the  acknowledgment  of  die  first,  the  Lutherans 
protested  against  it,  from  whence  is  derived  the  name  of  Protestants.  Luther 
died  at  Eisleben,  in  1564,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  man 
of  impetuous  eloquence,  and  exercised  an  irresistible  influence  on  the  multitude. 

Eisenach,  the  capital  of  Saxe-Weimar,  contains  1 3,000  inhabitants.  It  is 
the  principal  town  in  the  Thuringian  forest,  and  has  been  rendered  famous 
from  the  fact  of  Martin  Luther  being  detained  a  prisoner  in  its  Castle  of  Wart- 
burg,  which  is  situated  about  one  mile  and  a  half  south  of  the  town. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1521,  as  Luther  was  returning  to  his  home  from  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  where,  in  defiance  of  all  threats  and  the  pope's  excommuni- 
cation, he  had  boldly  proclaimed  the  Protestant  religion,  as  he  was  entering 
the  borders  of  the  wood  his  party  was  attacked  by  a  body  of  armed  knights 
and  dispersed  ;  he  alone  was  made  prisoner.  He  was  conducted  to  the  Cas- 
tle of  Wartburg,  where  he  discovered  the  whole  affair  was  managed  by  the 
order  of  his  friend,  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  was  present  at  the  Diet  when 
he  left.  Although  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  had  given  Luther  assurance  of 
safe-conduct,  a  decree  for  his  arrest  was  instantly  sent  after  him,  and  his  sen- 
tence of  death  decided  on.  The  elector's  band  reached  him  before  the  war- 
rant of  arrest,  and  he  was  carried  in  secret  to  Wartburg,  where  he  remained 
for  ten  months.  He  cultivated  mustaches,  and  passed  at  the  castle  for  a 
young  nobleman,  thus  screened  by  the  friendly  Elector  of  Saxony  until  the 
first  fury  of  the  storm  had  passed.  The  chamber  which  Luther  occupied  in 
the  castle  contains  his  portrait  and  that  of  his  father  and  mother.  This  room 
was  the  scene  of  his  conflict  with  Satan.  There  is  a  story  told  and  believed, 
that  the  evil  one  appeared  before  him  gnashing  his  teeth  and  threatening 
him  with  vengeance  ;  whereupon  Luther,  who  had  defeated  his  foes  with  pen 
and  ink,  thought  he  would  try  the  ink  alone  on  the  devil,  and,  seizing  the  ink- 
stand, he  hurled  it  with  all  his  power  at  the  head  of  his  satanic  majesty,  hit- 
ting his — imagination  and  the  wall,  making  a  greater  impression  on  the  latter 
than  Satan  did  on  the  former.  The  hole  in  the  wall  is  now  shown  to  the 
traveller. 

In  another  part  of  the  casde  is  the  picture  of  St.  Elizabeth,  of  Thuringia, 
formerly  a  resident  of  Wartburg,  whose  husband  was  as  hard-hearted  as  she 
was  kind  and  charitable  to  the  poor.  On  one  occasion,  when  she  had  her 
apron  filled  with  food  which  she  was  about  to  bestow  on  the  hungry,  her  hus- 
band caught  her  in  the  act  and  demanded  what  she  had  in  her  apron ;  she 
replied,  "  Flowers,"  when,  thinking  to  detect  her  in  a  falsehood,  he  tore  open 


346 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


her  apron,  when,  lo  and  behold  !  die  bread  and  cheese  were  transformed  into 
roses  and  Hhes.  She  stands  in  the  picture  as  if  trembling  for  fear  they  will 
change  again. 

Dresden,  the  capital  of  the  Kingdom  of  Saxony,  is  delightfully  situated  on 
both  banks  of  the  Elbe.  It  has  177,025  inhabitants.  Its  military  museum 
outstrips  all  others  in  the  variety  and  quantity  of  its  offensive  and  defensive 
weapons;  in  its  accoutrements  of  the  tournament;  the  richness  and  skill 
evinced  in  the  decoration  of  the  armor  and  trappings  both  of  man  and  horse ;' 
and  the  relics  it  possesses  of  the  greatest  warriors  of  different  ages.  Among 
the  relics  are  the  robes  worn  by  Augustus  II.,  surnamed  "Strong,"  at  his 
coronation  as    King  of   Poland  ;    the    horseshoe    which   he    broke    with    his 


MAYENCE. 


fingers  ;  his  cuirass,  weighing  100  pounds,  and  his  iron  cap,  twenty-five  pounds. 
He  is  said  to  have  lifted  a  trumpeter  in  full  armor,  and  held  him  aloft  in  the 
palm  of  his  hand ;  to  have  twisted  the  iron  banister  of  a  stair  into  a  rope ;  to 
have  made  love  to  a  coy  beauty  by  presenting  in  one  hand  a  bag  of  gold,  and 
breaking  with  the  other  the  horseshoe  mentioned  above.  Judging  from  the 
great  weight  of  his  armor  and  weapons,  he  must  have  been  a  man  of  giant 
strength.  There  is  also  a  saddle  of  Napoleon's,  his  boots  worn  at  the  batde 
of  Dresden,  and  the  shoes  worn  at  his  coronation. 

The  city  of  Mayence  is  the  largest  place  in  the  Grand-Duchy  of  Hesse- 
Darmstadt.  It  was  annexed  to  Prussia  in  1866.  It  contains  a  population  of 
56,000,  including  the  garrison,  which  consisted  of  7,000  soldiers  previous  to 
its  Prussian  annexation.  Its  fordficadons  are  of  great  strength.  Mayence  is 
a  city  of  great  antiquity  ;  under  Charlemagne  and  his  successors  it  became 


GERMANY. 


347 


the  first  ecclesiastical  city  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  was  lono-  the  seat  of  a 
sovereign  archbishopric.  In  modern  times  it  became  celebrated  for  the  mem- 
orable siege  it  endured,  when  it  was  successfully  defended  by  the  French 
troops  who  garrisoned  it. 

Among  the  principal  edifices  of  Mayence,  which  are  of  great  antiquity,  is 
the  cathedral,  a  vast  pile  of  red  sandstone  buildings,  begun  in  the  tenth  and 
finished  in  the  eleventh  century;  it  has  suffered  considerable  damao-e  at  dif- 
ferent  times,  having  been  burned  by  the  Prussians  in  1783,  and  used  as  a  bar- 
rack by  the  French  in  18  ij.  The  interior  is  filled  with  the  monuments  of  the 
different  electors  of  Mayence,  who  always  presided  at  the  election  of  the  em- 


FIRST    PRINTING-PRESS 


peror,  and  were  the  archbishops  and  first  princes  of  the  German  Empire.  The 
site  formerly  occupied  by  the  dwelling-house  of  Gutenberg,  the  inventor  of 
printing,  a  native  of  the  town,  may  still  be  seen.  With  Gutenberg  was  asso- 
ciated John  Faust,  a  goldsmith  and  engraver.     Faust  died  at  Paris  in  1466. 

Luther  believed  that  he  threw  ink  at  the  devil  and  forced  him  to  flee ;  but 
since  the  invention  of  printing  the  world  has  been  really  throwing  ink  at  the 
devil.  Ignorance,  by  means  of  the  first  printing-press,  and  is  fast  driving  him 
away.  The  age  of  the  invention  of  printing  produced  many  great  names  m 
Germany,  as  well  as  in  other  countries.     Albert  Durer,  one  of  the  greatest 


348 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


painters  and  engravers,  was  born  at  Nuremberg,  May  20th,  1471,  and  died  in 
1528.  Nicliolas  Copernicus,  the  promulgator  of  the  true  system  of,  as- 
tronomy, was  born  at  Thorn,  in  Prussia,  in  1472,  and  died  in  1543.  Following 
Copernicus  came  the  astronomer  John  Kepler,  who  has  been  called  the 
"  Lawgiver  of  the  Heavens."  The  three  laws  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  all 
true  astronomical  science  were  discovered  after  seventeen  long  years  of  labor 
by  this  great  man.  His  exultation  when  he  found  that  "the  anguish  and  the 
sweat  of  years "  had  brought  him  at  last  to  see  the  truth  was  unbounded. 
"  Nothing  holds  me,"  he  wrote ;  "  I  will  indulge  my  sacred  fury.  ...  If  you 
forgive  me,  I  rejoice ;  if  you  are  angry,  I  can  bear  it.  The  die  is  cast ;  the 
book  is  written,  to  be  read  either  now  or  by  posterity,  I  care  not  which.  It 
may  well  wait  a  century  for  a  reader,  since  God  has  waited  6,000  years  for  an 
observer." 


COPERNICUS 


KEPLER. 


The  famous  town  of  Weimar  is  situated  on  the  Ilm,  in  the  midst  of  beau- 
tiful groves  and  handsome  grounds.  Its  population  is  15,000.  It  possesses 
great  interest  as  the  residence  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  literary  men 
of  Germany,  drawn  thither  by  the  enlightened  patronage  of  the  grand  duke. 
Among  the  great  names  thus  connected  with  it  are  those  of  Schiller,  Goethe, 
Herder  and  Wieland. 

Schiller's  remark  during  his  first  visit  to  Weimar,  "An  affair  of  the  heart 
is  an  easy  matter  here ;  scarce  a  woman  without  her  history,"  proved  too  true 
of  Goethe,  Germany's  greatest  mind,  "whose  lute  was  a  woman's  broken 
heart."  He  was  then  in  the  full  bloom  of  a  manhood  whose  like  literary  his- 
tory has  rarely  seen.  With  a  face  more  beautiful  than  Byron's  or  Milton's, 
nature  had  endowed  him  with  a  physique  denied  to  either.  The  waving 
brown  hair,  the  soft  dark  eyes,  the  Apollo-like  profile,  seemed  Cupid's  ar- 
rows, which  pierced  the  hearts  of  men  and  women  alike.  As  a  specimen  of 
Goethe's  poetry  we  give  Carlyle's  favorite  poem,  translated  by  himself  from 
Goethe,  with  his  comment  upon  it: 


GERMANY. 

"  Mason  Lodge. 


349 


"  The  Mason's  ways  are 
A  type  of  existence, 
And  his  persistence 
Is  as  the  days  are 
Of  men  in  this  world. 

"  The  future  hides  in  it 
Gladness  and  sorrow ; 
We  press  still  thorough, 
Naught  that  abides  in  it 
Daunting  us,  onward. 

"And  solemn  before  us 
Veiled  the  dark  portal, 
Goal  of  all  mortals; 
Stars  silent  rest  o'er  us. 
Graves  under  us  silent. 


"  While  earnest  thou  gazest 
Comes  boding  of  terror, 
Comes  phantasm  and  error, 
Perplexes  the  bravest 
With  doubt  and  misgiving. 

"  But  heard  are  tlie  voices. 
Heard  are  the  sage's. 
The  world's,  and  the  age's. 
Choose  well :  your  choice  is 
Brief  and  yet  endless. 

"  Here  eyes  do  regard  you 
In  eternity's  stillness; 
Here  is  all  fulness, 
■Ye  brave,  to  reward  you. 
Work  and  despair  not." 


"  Is  not  that  a  piece  of  psalmody  ?  It  seems  to  me  like  a  piece  of  march- 
ing music  to  the  great  brave  Teutonic  kindred  as  they  march  through 
the  waste  of  time — that  section  of  eternity  they  were  appointed  for.  Let  us 
all  sing  it  and  march  on  cheerful  of  heart.  'We  bid  you  to  hope.'  So  say 
the  voices,  do  they  not  ? " 

This  poem  of  Goethe's  was  on  Carlyle's  lips  to  the  last  days  of  his  life. 
When  very  near  the  end  he  quoted  the  last  lines  of  it  when  speaking  of  what 
might  lie  beyond:  "We  bid  you  to  hope." 

In  the  new  churchyard  outside  of  Weimar  may  be  seen  an  admirable  ar- 
rangement to  prevent  the  accident  of  premature  burial  in  cases  of  suspended 
animation.  In  a  dark  chamber,  lighted  with  a  small  lamp,  the  body  lies  in  a 
coffin  ;  in  its  fingers  are  placed  strings,  which  communicate  with  an  alarm- 
clock  ;  the  least  pulsation  of  the  corpse  will  ring  the  bell  in  an  adjoining 
chamber,  where  a  person  is  placed  to  watch,  when  medical  attendance  is  at 
once  supplied.  There  have  been  several  cases  where  persons  supposed  to  be 
dead  were  thus  saved  from  premature  interment. 

Cologne  is  one  of  the  most  important  cities  in  the  Prussian  kingdom.  It 
is  built  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  close  by  the  river  Rhine,  and  is  strongly  for- 
tified, the  walls  forming  a  circuit  of  nearly  seven  miles.  The  well-known 
liquid  which  bears  the  name  of  the  city  {ea2i  de  Cologne)  is  an  important  pro- 
duction of  the  place,  and  is  exported  in  very  large  quantities. 

The  chief  glory  of  Cologne  is  its  magnificent  cathedral,  or  Minster  of  St. 
Peter,  which  is  one  of  the  most  magnificent  specimens  of  Gothic  architecture 
in  the  world. 

Behind  the  high  altar  is  the  Chapel  of  the  Magi,  or  the  Three  Kings  of 


350 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Cologne.     The  custodian  will  tell  you  that  the  silver  case  contains  the  bones 


of  the   three  wise  men  who  came  from  the 
their  presents  to  the  infant  Christ,  and  that 


COLOGNE  CATHEDRAL,  SOUTH  SIDE 


East  to  Bethlehem  to  present 
the  case,  which  is  ornamented 
with  precious  stones,  and  the 
surrounding  valuables  in  the 
chapel,  are  worth  $6,000,000. 
These  remains  were  presented 
to  the  archbishop  of  Cologne 
by  the  Emperor  Barbarossa 
when  he  captured  the  city  of 
Milan,  which  at  that  time  pos- 
sessed these  valuable  relics. 
The  skulls  of  the  Magi, 
crowned  with  diamonds,  with 
their  names  written  in  rubies, 
are  shown  to  the  curious. 
Amonpf  the  numerous  relics  in 
the  sacristy  is  a  bone  of  St. 
Matthew. 

The  church  of  St.  Ursula 
is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
sights  in  Cologne.  The  tra- 
dition  of  St.  Ursula  is  this :  She  was  the  Daughter  of  the  King  of  Brittany, 
who  sailed  up  the  river  Rhine  as  far  as  Basle,  and  then,  accompanied  by 
1 1,000  virgins,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  ;  from  Basle  she  trr.velled  on  foot, 
and  was  received  at  the  Holy  City  by  the  pope  with  great  honors.  On 
her  return  the  whole  party  was  barbarously  murdered  by  the  Huns,  because 
they  refused  to  break  their  vows  of  chastity.  St.  Ursula  was  accompanied  by 
her  lover,  Conan,  and  an  escort  of  knights.  St.  Ursula  and  Conan  suffered 
death  in  the  camp  of  the  Emperor  Ma.ximin.  Ursula  was  placed  in  the  calen- 
dar as  the  patron  saint  of  chastity ;  and  the  bones  of  all  the  attendant  virgins 
were  gathered  together,  and  the  present  church  erected  to  contain  the  sacred 
relics.  On  every  side  you  turn,  skulls,  arm-  and  leg-bones  meet  your  eye, 
piled  on  shelves  built  in  the  wall.  In  every  direction  these  hideous  relics 
stare  you  in  the  face.  Hood  says  it  is  the  chastest  kind  of  architecture.  St. 
Ursula  herself  is  exhibited  in  a  coffin  which  is  surrounded  by  the  skulls  of  a 
few  of  her  favorite  attendants.  The  room  in  which  she  is  laid  contains  nu- 
merous other  relics ;  among  these  are  the  chains  with  which  St.  Peter  was 
bound,  and  one  of  the  clay  vessels  used  by  the  Saviour  at  the  marriage  in 
Cana. 

The  church  of  St.  Peter  will  be  visited  with  interest,  as  it  contains  not  only 
the  font  in  which  Rubens  was  baptized — he  was  born  in   Cologne — but  also 


GERMANY. 


351 


one  of  his  masterpieces,  the  Crucifixion,  presented  to  the  church  in  which  he 
•was  baptized,  a  short  time  before  his  death.     It  is  used  as  an  altar-piece. 

We  will  now  take  a  glance  at  that  war  which  made  a  united  Germany  pos- 
sible ;  and  in  doing  so  we  must  remember  that  the  Emperor  William  was  a 
full-grown,  tall  young  officer  of  the  Prussian  army  on  the  field  of  Waterloo, 
and  shared  in  the  revels  after  Waterloo  with  the  Czar  Alexander,  Wellino-ton 
and  Blucher,  in  captured  Paris.     It  seems  strange  that,  at  the  outset  of  his 


PHINCH     BiSMAHCK. 

military  career,  he  should  have  taken  part  in  the  overthrow  of  the  first  French 
empire ;  and  that  the  crowning  incident  of  his  later  years  should  be  the  dem- 
olition of  the  second.  And  it  is  one  of  the  most  striking  evidences  of  Wil- 
liam's shrewdness  and  foresight  in  kingcraft  that  he  should  discern  the  one 
man  in  all  Germany  whose  brain  and  will  were  equal  to  the  task  of  achievmg 
German  unity  and  a  restoration  of  the  ancient  empire.  The  appointment  of 
Bismarck  as  his  chief  adviser  proved  this. 


352  THE    GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

In  the  nature  of  things  all  wars  must  be  studded  thick  with  dramatic  inci- 
dents— the  eagerness  for  martial  distinction;  the  whirl  and  turmoil  of  the  bat- 
tle, the  "rapture  of  the  fray,"  as  Kinglake  styles  it;  the  spasms  of  hope  of 
success  alternating  with  those  of  apprehension  of  defeat ;  the  long  strain  of 
suspense;  the  cheering  of  the  charge  and  the  groaning  of  the  wounded;  the 
swelling  triumph  of  the  victory  or  the  bitter  realization  of  the  defeat — all  these 
things  present  a  drama  of  varied  emotional  interest,  the  lurid  fascination  of 
which  never  fails  to  inthrall  the  world. 

But  while  this  is  so,  the  story  of  some  wars  is  comparatively  prosaic,  while 
others  teem  with  sensations  outside  that  of  the  actual  fighting,  and  so  present 
an  exceptionally  wide  range  of  melodramatic  incident.  Of  no  war  of  modern 
times  can  this  be  more  truly  said  than  of  the  Franco-German  war  of  1 8  70-1. 
Its  story  abounds  with  what  in  stage  parlance  are  called  "  situations ; " 
its  every  episode  was  sensational.  It  was  a  strife,  not  so  much  of  political 
friction,  but  of  great  nation  against  great  nation.  The  very  hearts  of  the 
people  were  in  it:  empires  and  dynasties  were  the  stakes;  monarchs  and  the 
offspring  of  monarchs  were  in  the  field  ;  it  shattered  one  imperial  dynasty  and 
it  created  another. 

The  difficulty  is  not  to  find  its  melodramatic  incidents,  but  to  make  a  selec- 
tion of  them  out  of  the  wealth  of  those  which  are  most  striking.  In  the  early 
days  of  June,  1870,  the  atmosphere  of  Europe  is  that  of  profound  peace.  Earl 
Granville,  the  British  foreign  minister,  has  made  the  statement  that  there  is 
not  a  cloud,  or  the  shadow  of  a  cloud,  in  the  political  sky.  A  few  days  later 
King  Wilhelm  of  Prussia  is  quietly  rusticating  at  the  little  watering-place  of 
Ems.  There  besets  him  there  Benedetti,  the  French  ambassador  to  his  court. 
Benedetti  demands,  in  the  name  of  his  master,  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  that 
King  Wilhelm  will  disavow  his  sanction  to  the  candidature  of  his  kinsman, 
Prince  Leopold  of  Hohenzollern,  for  the  throne  of  Spain.  Wilhelm  replies 
that  his  sanction  has  not  been  asked,  and  Prince  Leopold  simplifies  matters, 
and  seemingly  resolves  the  difficulty,  by  declining  to  be  a  candidate.  But  this 
does  not  satisfy  Benedetti's  master.  Benedetti  is  instructed  to  obtain  from 
King  Wilhelm  a  categorical  promise  that,  in  the  future,  under  no  circumstances 
will  he  permit  a  German  prince  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  throne  of  Spain. 
Then  the  old  man's  blood  is  stirred.  He  declines  to  give  any  such  promise. 
Benedetti,  pursuant  to  instruction,  persists  in  the  endeavor  to  exact  the  promise, 
or  to  sting  Wilhelm  into  an  angry  refusal.  He  accosts  the  old  king  on  the 
promenade.  Wilhelm's  face  flushes  with  hot  wrath ;  but  he  forgets  not  the 
dignity  of  his  kingship.  Looking  over  Benedetti  as  if  he  were  a  worm  on  the 
pavement,  he  says  to  his  aide-de-camp,  Count  Lehndorff,  "Tell  this  gendeman 
I  have  nothing  to  say  to  him  !  "  and  then  he  turns  on  his  heel  and  stalks  away, 
leaving  the  Frenchman  p/au/e' /a. 

And  so  begins  the  war  that,  sought  by  that  Frenchman's  master,  is  to  hurl 


GERMANY. 


353 


the  latter  from  his  throne — a  war  none  the  less  that  the  declaration  of  hostili- 
ties comes  from  France,  the  preparations  for  which  had  been  maturino-  in  Ger- 
many, under  the  superintendence  of  Moltke  and  Roon,  ever  since  Bismarck, 
when  he  left  the  Tuileries  three  years  before,  took  away  the  conviction  that 
war  between  France  and  Germany  was  Inevitable,  and  that  the  task  before  him 
was  to  get  Germany  ready  for  the  contest,  postpone  the  crisis  till  she  was 
ready,  and  bring  it  on  when  that  consummation  had  been  attained.  Napo- 
leon, Wilhelm  and  Benedetti  were  alike  the 
puppets  and  playthings  of  the  great  burly 
chancellor. 

"On  to  Berlin!"  was  the  cry  of  the  French 
soldiers  as  they  marched  along  the  boule- 
vards of  Paris  amid  the  frantic  applause 
of  the  spasmodic  boulevardiers.  The  brag- 
gart cry  came  from  an  army  that  never  got 
nearer  Berlin  than  the  frontier  of  France — 
came  from  an  army  which  Le  Boeuf  war- 
ranted ready  for  war  to  the  last  button  on 
the  last  soldier's  gaiter,  but  which  in  reality  ^^ 
lacked  every  attribute  of  an  army  save  the 
gallant  courage  that,  with  all  his  faults,  is 
inherent  in  the  French  soldier.  In  Germany 
there  was  infinitely  less  throat-splitting,  but 
infinitely  more  of  method  and  alacrity  of 
preparation.  Moltke  had  touched  that  bell 
of  his  in  his  room  in  the  bureau  of  the  een- 
eral  staff,  that  bell  whose  sound  is  the  signal 
for  the  telegraph  wires  to  speed  to  the  head-quarters  of  the  respective  army 
corps  the  signal  for  the  mobilization  of  the  reserves  of  the  German  army. 

The  first  great  battle  took  place  near  the  city  of  Metz,  the  French  army 
being  totally  defeated.  The  great  battles  of  Mars-la-Tour,  Gravelotte,  Bei- 
zeilles,  and  Sedan  rapidly  followed,  with  the  same  result.  Outside  of  Sedan 
the  French  fought  with  desperation,  and  the  Germans  pressed  on  with  over- 
whelming numbers  and  characteristic  German  persistence.  In  this  battle  the 
Germans  had  285,000  engaged,  while  MacMahon's  army  numbered  115,000 — 
less  than  half  that  number.  The  French,  outnumbered  two  to  one,  were 
forced  into  Sedan,  and  the  Germans  commenced  shelling  the  town.  The 
Prussian  kine  ordered  the  firine  to  stop,  and  sent  an  officer  with  a  flag  of 
truce,  offering  capitulation.  He  entered  the  city  and  was  conducted  mto  the 
presence  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon.  The  French  emperor  asked  what  his 
orders  were,  when  he  replied  that  he  had  been  sent  to  summon  the  army  and 
fortress  to  surrender. 

24 


VON    MOLTKE. 


354  'IHE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

He  was  referred  to  General  Wimpffen,  who  had  assumed  the  command  in 
place  of  MacMahon,  who  had  been  disabled  in  battle.  With  much  reluctance 
General  Wimpffen  consented  to  an  unconditional  surrender,  and  83,000 
F'renchmen  laid  down  their  arms.  No  sucli  shame  had  ever  before  fallen 
upon  the  arms  of  France. 

And  now  the  way  to  Paris  was  cleared  of  every  obstacle,  and  the  Germans 
without  loss  of  time  began  their  march  on  the  capital.  So  soon  as  the  dis- 
aster of  Sedan  was  known  there,  the  Parisians  deposed  their  emperor  and 
erected  a  republic.  The  new  government  determined  upon  a  strenuous  de- 
fence. The  Germans  completely  surrounded  the  city,  and  effectively  cut  off 
communication  with  the  world  outside.  They  did  not  inflict  the  horrors  of 
bombardment,  and  were  contented  to  wait  till  famine  compelled  surrender. 

Fiction  would  not  have  dared  to  be  so  strange  as  the  stern  truth  embodied 
in  that  environment  of  Teuton  soldiery  that  surrounded  the  queen  city  of  the 
old  world  from  September,  1870,  to  February,  1871.  While  inside  Trochu 
planned,  ever  unavailingly,  outside,  in  Versailles,  Bismarck  grimly  waited  for 
the  "  physiological  moment,"  and  the  palace  of  the  grand  monarquc,  with  its 
proud  inscription  "^  toutes  les  gloires  dc  la  France"  was  in  use  as  an  hospital 
for  the  wounded  German  soldiers.  But  on  the  i8th  of  January,  1871,  the 
grandest  hall  of  that  palace,  the  sumptuous  Gallery  of  Mirrors,  was  cleared  of 
the  truckle-beds  of  the  wounded  soldiery,  that  it  might  be  the  scene  for  the 
proclamation  of  a  new  emperor.  The  great  mirrors  that  once  reflected  the 
splendor  of  the  court  of  Louis  reflect  to-day  the  varied  uniforms  of  the  Ger- 
man armies.  Not  Prussian  uniforms  alone  do  the  mirrors  reflect,  but  Bava- 
rian, Wurtemberger,  Saxon  ,also,  for  to-day  witnesses  the  consummation,  of 
German  unity,  and  the  creation,  or  rather  the  resurrection,  of  a  German 
Empire.  The  raised  dais  at  the  upper  end  of  the  long  hall  is  thronged  with 
the  princes  and  potentates  of  Germany,  gathered  there  to  proclaim  as  "  the 
German  emperor"  the  square-shouldered,  white-haired  monarch  who  stands 
in  the  centre  of  the  forefront  of  the  throne.  Behind  and  on  either  side  of 
him  are  the  men  who  have  made  that  empire — Bismarck,  the  planner  ;  Moltke, 
the  strategist ;  Roon,  the  army  reformer.  By  his  side,  flushed  with  pride  in 
his  father,  stands  the, gallant  Crown  Prince,  scholar,  general,  patriot.  Sud- 
denly there  stands  forth  the  Grand  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  with  a  clash  of  his 
sword  as  its  scabbard-poInt  rings  on  the  polished  floor.  He  waves  his  plumed 
helmet  aloft,  and  shouts,  "  Hurrah  for  the  German  Emperor!"  The  deep- 
noted  "  Hoch !  "  is  caught  up  vociferously  by  the  throng ;  it  is  repeated  over 
and  over  again,  till  the  echo  of  the  cheering  booms  out  over  the  Place  d'Armes 
below.  The  wounded  soldiers  in  the  adjacent  galleries  hear  it  as  they  lie, 
and  they  give  it  back  in  feebler,  but  not  less  earnest,  tones.  The  crown 
prince  is  on  his  knees  before  the  emperor,  his  father,  kissing  the  hand  of 
father  and  kaiser.     The  cannon  bellow  out  the  salute,  the   noise  of  which 


356  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

mingles  with  the  firing  of  the  fighting  line  out  to  the  front,  by  Montretout  and 
Ville  d'Avray.  There  is  a  flush  of  triumph  on  Bismarck's  dark  face,  for  the 
unity  of  Germany  has  been  formally  consummated. 

The  Emperor  William  I.  was  a  true  German  in  his  fondness  for  the  good 
things  of  the  table.  He  once  had  a  severe  conflict  between  his  appetite  and 
his  patriotism,  in  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  his  appetite  won.  Before  the 
war  with  France  he  had  a  chief  cook  who  suited  him  exactly.     But  the  cook 


CROWN    PRINCE   OF   GERMANY. 

was  a  Frenchman,  and  when  the  war  broke  out  he  was  dismissed  because  of 
his  obnoxious  nationality.  But  the  German  who  replaced  him  only  succeeded 
in  giving  the  monarch  a  series  of  fits  of  violent  indigestion.  So  the  former 
cook,  Frenchman  as  he  was,  was  recalled  to  his  post,  where  he  has  remained 
ever  since. 


GERMANY. 

The  day  on  which  King  William  was  hailed  Emperor  of  Germany  was  the 
one  hundred  and  eightieth  atiniversary  of  the  coronation  of  Frederick  the 
Great  as  King  of  Prussia ;  so  that  the  day  was  already  notable  in  the  history 
of  his  family.  On  the  28th  Paris  capitulated.  With  the  city  of  Paris  were 
surrendered  1,900  pieces  of  artillery  and  180,000  prisoners. 


U^ 


EMPEROR    WILLIAM    II 


By  the  terms  of  peace  France  ceded  the  greater  part  of  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine.    The  war  indemnity  amounted  to  ;g  1 ,000,000,000. 

An  attempt  was  made  on  May  nth,  1878,  to  assassinate  the  Emperor  in 
Berlin.  He  was  returning  in  his  carriage  from  a  drive  with  his  daughter,  the 
Grand  Duchess  of  Baden,  when  a  tinsmith,  named  Hodel,  fired  two  shots  into 
the  carriage  from  the  sidewalk,  but  both  shots  missed.  Hodel  was  beheaded 
for  his  crime.  Another  attempt  was  made  on  June  2d,  when  he  was  driving 
in   the  Unter  der  Linden,  by  Dr.  Nobeling,  a  Socialist  or  Nihilist.     Though 

356a 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

the  Emperor  received  thirty  small  shot  in  the  face,  head  and  arms,  he  was  not 
seriously  injured. 

He  died  March  9,  1888,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Frederick  Wil- 
liam Nicholas  Charles,  "  Unser  Fritz,"  who  assumed  the  title  of  Frederick 
III.  Frederick  was  a  lover  of  learning  and  of  a  noble  character.  When  he 
and  Von  Moltke  were  making  a  tour  of  military  inspection  through  the  prov- 
inces, the  alarm  of  fire  was  given  in  one  of  the  cities.  He  was  the  first  per- 
son to  reach  the  fire,  and  labored  hard  with  his  hands  till  it  was  extinguished. 
This  act  made  him  tens  of  thousands  of  friends,  and  all  Germany  boasted  a 
royal  son  who,  though  a  child  of  a  palace,  was  a  friend  of  the  poor  man's 
home.  At  the  annual  picnic  for  children  he  always  took  his  family,  and  bade 
his  sons  and  daughters  mingle  with  the  poorest  and  humblest  of  the  throng. 
He  believed  in  greater  freedom  of  the  press.  When  a  law  restricting  the 
liberty  of  the  press  was  passed  he  objected  to  it,  and  his  father  was  greatly 
displeased  at  his  son's  opposition  to  the  law.  But  he  said  :  "  Father,  you  may 
strip  me  of  all  my  decorations,  you  may  take  away  all  my  commissions,  but 
you  cannot  compel  me  to  favor  what  I  consider  to  be  so  unjust  a  measure." 
The  obnoxious  feature  of  the  law  was  repealed.  He  favored  freedom  of  con- 
science.    He  encouraged  the  largest  religious  freedom. 

Frederick  married  the  Princess  Victoria  of  England  on  the  25th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1858.  In  1883,  on  the  occasion  of  their  silver  wedding,  the  citizens  of 
Berlin  grave  Frederick  and  Victoria  a  vessel  containing  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  gold,  which,  like  the  presents  received  twenty-five  years  before,  they 
set  apart  as  an  endowment  for  charities. 

Frederick  died  of  a  disease  of  the  throat  on  June  15th,  1888.  The  same 
heroism  which  he  had  displayed  on  the  battle-field  was  manifested  on  the  bed 
of  sickness.  The  people  of  Potsdam  spread  oak  leaves  on  the  road  for  a 
mile  over  which  their  beloved  monarch  might  pass  to  the  tomb.  And  they 
laid  him  beside  Frederick  the  Great. 

On  March  18,  1S90,  Prince  Bismarck  resigned  the  Chancellorship  of  the 
German  Empire,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  Von  Caprivi.  General  Caprivi 
was  born  at  Berlin  on  February  24th,  1 83 1 .  He  is  a  descendant  on  his  father's 
side  of  an  illustrious  Italian  family.  Entering  the  reeiment  in  his  eicrhteenth 
year,  he  won  rapid  promotion.  He  has  not  only  proved  himself  a  great  sol- 
dier, but  also  an  able  administrator. 

ooGh 


STREET    IN    VIENNA. 


AUSTRIA. 


'HE  Empire  of  Austria  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Russia,  Prus- 
sia, Poland  and  Saxony  ;  on  the  west  by  Bavaria,  Switzerland 
and  the  Kingdom  of  Italy;  on  the  south  by  Italy,  the  Adriatic 
sea  and  Turkey,  and  on  the  east  by  Turkey  and  Russia.  Its 
greatest  length  is  860  miles,  and  its  average  breadth  400  miles, 
the  total  area  being  nearly  twice  the  size  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  and  one-third  more  than  the  whole  of  the  Middle  and 
Eastern  States  of  our  own  country. 
The  countries  brought  together  under  the  rule  of  Austria  comprise  a 
greater  portion  of  the  European  continent  than  belongs  to  any  other  single 
power  excepting  Russia.  They  include  provinces  inhabited  by  people  of  dif- 
ferent race  and  language,  and  whose  only  bond  is  that  of  political  rule.  The 
nucleus  of  Austrian  power  is  German,  and  the  German  provinces  of  the  em- 
pire comprehend  the  portion  of  its  population  that  is  most  advanced  with  re- 
gard to  civil  and  social  condition.  But  the  German  provinces  constitute  less 
than  a  third  part  of  the  entire  extent  of  the  empire;  the  Hungarian  countries 

form  more  than  a  half  of  its  entire  area,  and  include  two-fifths  of  its  popula- 

(357) 


358  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

tion.  Galicia,  or  Austrian  Poland,  is  equal  to  one-eighth  of  the  whole  empire 
as  regards  size,  and  includes  more  than  that  proportion  of  its  population. 
Previous  to  1866  the  Italian  subjects  of  Austria  amounted  to  one-eighth  of  the 
population. 

In  1804  Francis  assumed  the  title  of  hereditary  Plmperor  of  Austria,  and 
on  the  6th  of  August,  1806,  renounced  the  title  of  Emperor  of  Germany. 
The  latter  event  had  been  preceded  by  the  formation  of  the  Confederation  of 
the  Rhine,  and  the  entire  dissolution  of  the  old  Germanic  Confederation.  His 
son,  Ferdinand  I.,  succeeded  him  in  March,  1835,  •^"'^  ^"^^  was  succeeded  by 
the  present  emperor,  Francis  Joseph,  born  August  i8th,  1830,  who  ascended 
the  throne  December  2d,  1848. 

As  every  province  in  Austria  forms  a  separate  land,  each  has  its  peculiar 
laneuaee  or  dialect,  and  its  distinguishing  customs  and  habits.  Of  the  Sla- 
vonic  languages  the  Polish  possesses  the  richest  literature;  but  the  Bohemian 
has  of  late  years  been  highly  cultivated,  and  forms  the  written  language  of 
the  Moravians  and  Slowaks  of  the  north-west  counties  of  Hungary.  The 
dialect  of  Carniola  has  been  methodized,  and  is  grammatically  taught  as  the 
written  language  of  Illyria  and  Croatia.  The  ephemeral  existence  of  the  II- 
lyrian  kingdom,  established  by  Napoleon,  sufficed  to  call  forth  the  powers  of 
a  lyric  poet  of  considerable  merit  named  VVodnik,  who  wrote  in  this  dialect. 

Vienna,  the  capital,  is  a  city  of  ancient  origin,  and  has  been  the  scene  of 
many  interesting  historical  events.  It  was  successively  taken  by  the  Goths 
and  Huns,  and  subsequently  by  Charlemagne,  who  placed  it  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  margraves  of  the  eastern  part  of  his  dominions,  thence  called 
Oesterreich,  and  Austria.  The  margraves,  afterward  dukes,  held  Vienna  un- 
til the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  when  it  was  taken  by  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.,  and  again  by  Rodolph  I.,  founder  of  the  Hapsburg  dynasty,  in 
1297.  The  Hungarians  vainly  besieged  it  in  1477,  but  eight  years  later  it 
was  obliged  to  surrender  to  Matthias,  who  then  possessed  the  united  crowns 
of  Hungary  and  Bohemia  and  made  it  the  seat  of  his  court.  Since  the  time 
of  Maximilian  I.,  it  has* been  the  usual  residence  of  the  archdukes  of  Austria 
and  emperors  of  Germany.  The  most  memorable  event  in  its  history,  how- 
ever, and  one  that  largely  influenced  the  fortunes  of  Christendom,  was  its  fa- 
mous siege  in  1683  by  a  Turkish  army,  200,000  strong,  under  the  command  of 
Kara  Mustapha,  when  it  was  only  saved  from  surrender  by  the  timely  arrival 
of  John  Sobieski,  the  heroic  King  of  Poland,  who  defeated  the  besiegers  with 
great  slaughter  under  the  very  walls  of  the  city.  In  161 9  Vienna  was  unsuc- 
cessfully blockaded  by  the  Bohemian  Protestants.  In  i  S05  it  submitted  to  the 
conquering  arms  of  the  first  Napoleon,  and  again,  after  a  short  resistance,  in 
1809. 

Throughout  Germany  the  name  of  Vienna  has  long  been  synonymous  for 
music.     It  is  the  chief  national  art  in  Austria,  which  never  had  great  warriors, 


I 


NAPOLEON    AND    QUEEN    LOUISE. 


i,.-j;i 


360 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Statesmen  or  orators,  but  has  always  had  great  and  good  musicians.  The 
musical  history  of  Vienna  comprises  four  grand  epochs:  that  of  Haydn  and 
Mozart,  that  of  Beethoven  and  Schubert,  that  of  Liszt  and  Thalberg,  and  the 

present,  which  is  dubbed 
the  "  Renaissance."  The 
citizens  are  always  en- 
thusiastic over  music — 
their  weak,  or  rather 
strong,  point.  Misun- 
derstood geniuses  are  un- 
derstood by  them,  and 
their  city  is  the  only  one, 
except  Munich  and  Bay- 
reuth,  where  Wagner's 
music  has  been  performed 
in  all  its  fulness.  Com- 
posers and  musicians  re- 
ceive at  their  hands  that 
formal  consecration  which 
Rome  formerly  gave  to 
painters  and  sculptors. 

The  environs  of  Vi- 
enna are  worthy  of  notice, 
and  much  frequented  by 
pleasure- parties  from  the 
metropolis.  The  princi- 
pal place  is  Schonbrunn, 
the  favorite  summer  res- 
idence of  the  emperor. 
This  palace  was  begun  by  Matthias,  and  finished  by  Maria  Theresa.  It  pos- 
sesses a  melancholy  hTstorical  interest  on  account  of  Napoleon  II.,  Duke  of 
Reichstadt,  having  died  here,  and  in  the  same  bed  that  his  imperial  father  oc- 
cupied in  1809.  This  occurred  in  1832.  His  mother  was  the  Archduchess 
Maria  Louisa,  who  was  married  to  Napoleon  I.,  March  i  ith,  18 10. 


BEETHOVEN. 


BAVARIA. 
Bavaria  consists  of  two  distinct  divisions  of  territory,  which  cover  an  area 
of  29,628  square  miles,  and  contains  a  population  of  5,000,000.  The  larger 
division  is  bounded  on  the  south  and  east  by  the  German  provinces  of  Aus- 
tria; on  the  west  by  the  Kingdom  of  Wurtemberg  and  the  Duchy  of  Baden; 
and  on  the  north  by  the  smaller  German  states.  The  smaller  portion  is  to 
.the  westward  of  the  Rhine,  and  bordering  on   the  French  frontier.     It  has  a 


AUSTRIA.  361 

mean  elevation  of  i,6oo  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  is  200  miles  lono-,  and 
1 50  wide.  The  greater  portion  of  Bavaria  is  within  the  basin  of  the  Danube, 
which  crosses  the  country  from  west  to  east,  and  is  watered  by  that  river  and 
its  numerous  affluents.     The  climate  is  in  general  temperate  and  salubrious. 

Bavaria  is  particularly  noted  for  the  good  quality  of  its  beer,  which  is  far 
superior  to  that  of  any  other  country;  in  fact,  its  flavor  is  entirely  different; 
but  you  must  drink  it  in  Bavaria.  The  quantity  drunk  and  brewed  is  incredi- 
ble. Allowing  2  5,ocx?,cxx)  gallons  to  be  exported  every  year,  the  quantity 
brewed  would  leave  seventeen  gallons  per  annum  to  every  man,  woman  and 
child  in  the  kingdom. 

BOHEMIA. 

"  '  Hold  your  tongues !  both  Swabian  and  Saxon  ! ' 
A  bold  Bohemian  cries ; 
'  If  there's  a  heaven  upon  this  earth, 

In  Bohemia  it  lies.'  " — Longfellcrw' s  "  The  Happiest  Land." 

The  ancient  Kingdom  of  Bohemia,  of  which  Prague  is  the  capital,  has  been 
a  dependency  of  Austria  since  the  Thirty  Years'  war.  The  princess  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  James  I.  of  England,  Avas  for  a  short  time  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
her  husband,  the  Elector  Palatine,  having  been  invited  to  fill  the  throne  and 
support  the  Bohemian  Protestants.  But  Ferdinand  II.  of  Austria  drove  him 
out,  and  this  religious  war  involved  the  whole  of  Germany  in  flames,  each 
principality  taking  one  side  or  the  other,  and  retaliating  on  their  adversaries 
by  the  destruction  of  churches,  schools,  libraries,  and  institutions  of  all  sorts. 

The  capital  city  of  Bohemia  is  Prague,  which  retains  many  traces  of  former 
grandeur.  It  is  situated  on  a  noble  river,  the  Moldau  ;  and  the  Hradshin, 
or  royal  palace,  crowns  a  height  overlooking  the  town.  There  are  many  Jews 
in  Prague,  and  they  possess  a  quaint,  picturesque  cemetery,  which  strangers 
are  taken  to  see.  The  Bohemians  are  not  of  German  race ;  they  are  Sclavs, 
a  people  of  oriental  derivation,  and  of  finer  and  less  ponderous  qualities ; 
they  have  something  of  the  Tartar  in  their  physiognomy. 

In  the  cathedral  of  St.  Vitus  in  Prague  are  kept  some  very  curious  relics, 
among  which  are  some  of  the  bones  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  a  piece  of 
the  true  cross,  two  thorns  from  the  dying  Saviour's  crown,  one  of  the  palm- 
branches  over  which  he  rode,  the  pocket-handkerchief  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
the  bridal  robe  of  Maria  Theresa,  worked  by  herself  into  a  mass-robe,  with 
numerous  relics  used  at  the  coronation  of  the  kings. 

Not  far  from  the  city  stands,  at  a  great  height,  the  Acropolis.  These  prec- 
ipices are  famous  in  history.  It  is  said  that  Queen  Libussa,  the  founder  of 
Prague,  who  was  a  notorious  wanton,  used  to  pitch  her  lovers  from  this  giddy 

height  into  the  river  as  soon  as  she  eot  tired  of  them  and  wished  a  new  one. 

•  •   •       1 

A  country  clown,  w^ho  was  more  successful  than  the  rest  m  retammg  her  pas- 
sion, was  the  ancestor  of  the  lone  line  of  Bohemian  kings. 


362 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Near  the  palace  is  situated  the  Loretto  chapel,  which  is  an  exact  copy  of 
the  wandering  house  of  Loretto  in  Italy  (neither  of  which  is  anything  like  the 
house  at  Nazareth).  This  is  considered  the  holiest  place  in  Prague,  and  pil- 
o-rimages  are  made  to  it  from  all  parts  of  Germany.  Here  you  will  be  shown 
the  leer-bone  of  Mary  Magdalen  and  the  skull  of  one  of  the  wise  virgins ! 


TYROL. 

The  Tyrol  is  the  westernmost  province  of  Austria.  Its  length  and  breadth 
are  about  alike  (145  miles),  with  a  poptilation  of  about  950,000,  of  which  a 
third  are  of  Italian  origin.  The  main  chain  of  the  Alps,  including  many  of  its 
higher  summits,  traverses  it  from  east  to  west.  In  some  respects  its  scenery 
is  as  errand  as  any  in  the  world.  The  Dolomite  mountains,  with  their  fantasti- 
cal  shapes  and  sharp  peaks,  extending  along,  one  after  the  other,  in  serrated 

ridges,  like  alligators' 
jaws,  cleft  and  fissured 
thousands  of  feet  deep, 
form  a  picture  which 
stands  in  living  con- 
trast with  anything 
known  in  Europe.  The 
Stelvio  Pass,  the  high- 
est carriage-road  in  the 
world  (9,200  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea — 
nearly  1,000  feet  above, 
the  level  of  perpetual 
snow),  is  for  grandeur 
of  scenery,  boldness  of 
design,  magnitude  of 
labor,  etc.,  not  to  be 
surpassed  in  Europe. 
Some  of  the  glaciers, 
within  the  limits  of 
the  Tyrol,  are  unsur- 
passed in  grandeur. 

The  aptitudes  of  the 
Tyrolese  are  many.  At 
six  years  old  the  little 
Tyrolese  boys  go  off 
into  Bavaria,  to  the  great  fair  of  Kempten,  and  hire  themselves  out  to  mind 
catde  and  flocks  of  geese.  In  older  years  they  migrate  hither  and  thither  in 
all  sorts  of  capacities — masons,  carpenters,  miners  and  picture-dealers.    More 


GLACIER. 


AUSTRIA.  363 

than  30,000  men  thus  go  out  every  year.  The  chamois-hunters  of  the 
Tyrol  are  renowned  for  their  agility,  and  will  go  through  any  fatirrue  and 
danger  for  the  valuable  chamois'  horn.  The  search  after  medicinal  plants  is 
also  actively  carried  on.  The  flora  of  the  country  is  rich  and  varied,  and  the 
inhabitants  are  very  skilful  in  detecting  useful  herbs. 

The  Tyrolese,  again,  are  apt  with  their  hands  in  mechanical  arts.  They 
not  only  sculpture  ornamental  articles  in  wood,  but  undertake  larger  works, 
such  as  portable  wooden  shops  and  houses,  of  which  the  pieces  are  numbered, 
so  as  to  be  put  together  properly.  These  are  carried  as  far  as  the  shores  of 
Lake  Constance,  and  there  embarked  for  different  localities. 

The  Tyrolese  have  a  great  love  of  liberty,  and  when  the  French,  under  the 
first  empire,  took  possession  of  the  country  in  1808,  an  insurrection  broke  out 
under  the  famous  Andrew  Hofer,  an  innkeeper  and  corn-merchant.  After 
considerable  success,  and  the  destruction  of  several  detachments  of  French 
troops,  Hofer  was  obliged  to  capitulate  and  lay  down  his  arms.  But  the  fol- 
lowing year  (iSio)  he  was  arrested  on  accusation  of  holding  secret  intrigues 
with  the  Austrians,  taken  to  Mantua,  and  shot. 

In  every  village  is  a  school  which  children  are  obliged  to  attend ;  and  the 
University  of  Innspruck,  the  capital  of  Tyrol,  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  empire. 

We  conclude  with  the  translation  of  a  few  lines  from  that  charming  poet- 
ess, Cordula  Peregrina: 

"  Where  find  another  land  like  thee — Tyrol  ? 
Where  heavenward  rears  so  proud  the  rock's  steep  crest  ? 
Where  hushed  in  dreams  do  greener  valleys  rest? 
W^here  sunlit  streams  in  wilder  torrents  foam  ? 
So  ask  lone  wanderers  as  o'er  thee  they  roam- — 
And  echo  answers  to  the  listening  soul : 
God  hath  blest  thee — blessed  land,  Tyrol ! 
God  bless  thy  meadows  green, 
God  bless  thy  lakes  so  blue, 
God  bless  thy  rugged  peaks, 
God  bless  thy  hearts  so  true !  " 


NOVGOROD. 


RUSSIA. 


HE  early  history  of  that  great  empire  whose  boundaries  have  been 
gradually  extended  until  it  now  occupies  almost  the  entire  northern 
portion  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  embracing  in  its  immense  area 
more  than  iialf  of  Europe  and  one-third  of  Asia,  is  involved  in  great 
obscurity.  Its  earliest  annals  only  furnish  occasional  glimpses  of  numerous 
barbarian  hordes  roaming  over  its  surface.  The  Greeks  established  several 
colonies  in  this  region,  and  entered  into  commercial  relations  with  the  various 
tribes. 

In  the  second  century  the  Goths  overran  the  country,  and  established 
themselves  from  the  Don  to  the  Danube.  Successive  migrations  of  Alans, 
Huns,  Avarians  and  Bulgarians  followed,  and  in  the  fifth  century  the  Slavi,  or 
Slavs,  as  they  are  now  termed,  came  from  the  northern  Danube  and,  spread- 
ing themselves  along  the  Dnieper,  drove  the  scattered  Finnish  tribes  dwelling 
in  this  territory  higher  north,  toward  Finland  and  the  region  of  the  Arctic  sea. 
The  Slavs  soon  acquired,  from  commercial  intercourse  with  their  southern 
neighbors,  habits  of  civilized  life,  and  embraced  the  Christian  religion.  They 
founded  the  cities  of  Novgorod  and  Kiev,  which  early  attained  considerable 
importance.     Their  wealth,  however,  soon  e.Nxited  the  avidity  of  the  fierce 

(364) 


RUSSIA.  3g^ 

nomadic  tribes  by  whom  they  were  surrounded,  and  with  whom  they  were 
compelled  to  maintain  a  perpetual  warfare. 

The  Slavs,  seeing  that  the  warlike  races  threatened  their  rising  state  with 
destruction,  were  compelled  by  the  necessity  of  self-preservation  to  make 
terms  with  them. 

Their  negotiations  resulted,  in  862  .\.  d.,  in  the  arrival  of  a  celebrated 
Varagian  chief,  named  Rurik,  with  a  body  of  his  countrymen,  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  lake  Ladoga,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  Empire  of  Rus- 
sia by  uniting  his  people  under  one  government  with  those  who  already  oc- 
cupied the  soil.  Rurik  seems  to  have  been  a  bold  and  sagacious  ruler,  and  is 
credited  with  zeal  for  the  strict  administration  of  justice,  and  enforcino-  its  ex- 
ercise on  all  the  boyars  or  nobles  who  possessed  territories  under  him.  The 
Christian  worship,  according  to  the  forms  of  the  Greek  Church,  was  first  made 
known  in  Russia  under  Olga,  the  daughter-in-law  of  Ruric;  and  it  was  for- 
mally adopted  as  the  state  religion  by  her  grandson,  Vladimir  I.,  who  was  bap- 
tized in  980.  For  736  years  (862-1598)  Ruric's  descendants,  of  whom  the 
last  was  Feodor,  filled  the  Russian  throne. 

Feodor  I.  was  a  feeble  and  vacillating  prince.  He  died  in  1598,  and  with 
him  ended  the  dynasty  of  Rurik,  which,  during  eight  centuries,  had  wielded 
the  Russian  sceptre. 

A  hideous  period  of  internal  strife  followed,  with  many  rival  claimants  for 
the  throne.  To  the  horrors  of  internal  warfare  was  added  the  shock  of  in- 
vasion by  the  Poles,  who  burnt  Moscow  in  1611  and  slaughtered  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  the  inhabitants. 

The  turmoil  was  finally  ended  in  1613  by  the  elevation  to  the  throne  of 
Michael  Feodorovitch  Romanoff,  the  first  czar  of  the  present  imperial  family. 
He  was  a  son  of  Feodor,  Archbishop  of  Rostov,  whose  grandfather  had  been 
connected  by  marriage  with  the  House  ot  Rurik. 

In  1689  ^  "ew  era  opened  for  Russia  on  the  accession  of  Peter,  known  in 
history  as  the  Great.  In  a  brief  time  he  transformed  the  entire  nation  :  Rus- 
sia became  the  most  powerful  empire  of  Northern  Europe,  and  henceforth  re- 
garded herself,  and  was  generally  regarded,  as  a  leading  member  of  the  Euro- 
pean family  of  states. 

The  ruling  passion  of  Peter  the  Great  was  a  desire  to  extend  his  empire 
and  consolidate  his  power ;  and  consequently  his  first  act  was  to  make  war 
on  the  Turks,  an  undertaking  which  was  at  the  outset  imprudendy  conducted, 
and  consequently  unsuccessful.  He  lost  30,000  men  before  Azov,  and  did  not 
obtain  permanent  possession  of  the  town  until  the  year  1699.  and  then  by  an 
armistice.  In  the  following  year  he  was  defeated  in  his  intrenched  camp  at 
Narva,  containing  80,000  men,  by  8,000  Swedes,  under  Charles  XII.,  then  only 
a  boy  of  seventeen ;  and  on  many  other  occasions  the  Russians  suffered  se- 
vere checks  and  reverses. 


366 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


But  at  length  the  indomitable  perseverance  of  Peter  prevailed.  In  1705 
he  carried  Narva,  the  scene  of  his  former  defeat,  by  assault;  and  two  years 
after,  by  the  crowning  victory  of  Poltava,  where  he  showed  the  qualities  of  an 

able  general,  he  sealed  the  fate 
of  his  gallant  and  eccentric  ad- 
versary  and  the  brave  nation 
over  which  he  ruled. 

The  emperors  of  Russia  are 
called  Czars.  When  the  Czar 
Peter  was  twenty-five  years  old 
he  left  his  throne  and  travelled 
over  Europe  in  search  of  knowl- 
edge. He  did  not  go  to  any  of 
the  learned  universities,  nor  ap- 
ply himself  to  the  study  of  the 
dead  languages.  That  was  not 
the  sort  of  knowledge  which 
Peter  wanted.  The  first  thing- he 
did  was  to  go  to  Holland,  and 
put  himself  apprentice  to  a  ship- 
carpenter.  The  house  is  still 
standing  where  he  used  to  live 
while  there.  He  afterward  went 
to  Enorland  and  followed  the 
same  trade  as  in  Holland.  Be- 
sides learning  the  business  of 
ship-carpentry,  he  took  lessons  in  otner  branches  of  mechanics,  and  also  in 
surgery.  In  short,  he  neglected  no  kind  of  knowledge  which  he  thought 
would  be  useful  to  himself  or  his  subjects.  In  a  little  more  than  a  year  he 
heard  that  his  sister  was  endeavoring  to  make  herself  empress  of  Russia. 
This  intelligence  compelled  him  to  break  off  his  studies  and  labors,  and  hasten 
back  to  the  city  of  Moscow.  On  arriving  there  he  put  some  of  the  conspir- 
ators to  death,  and'  confined  his  sister  in  prison.  His  time  was  afterward  so 
much  occupied  in  war,  and  in  taking  care  of  the  empire,  that  he  never  had 
leisure  to  finish  his  education.  But  he  had  already  learnt  a  great  deal,  and 
the  effect  of  his  knowledge  was  soon  seen  in  the  improvement  of  the  condi- 
tion of  Russia. 

Peter  used  to  rise  at  five  in  the  morning,  and  busy  himself  all  day  about 
the  affairs  of  the  empire.  But  in  the  evening,  when  his  work  was  over,  he 
would  seat  himself  beside  a  big,  round  bottle  of  brandy,  and  drink  till  his 
reason  was  quite  gone.  This  habit,  together  with  the  natural  violence  of  his 
temper,  rendered   him   almost  as  dangerous  to  his  friends  as  to  his  enemies. 


PETER    THE   GREAT. 


RUSSIA.  3gy 

He  often  said  that  he  had  corrected  the  faults  of  Russia,  but  tliat  he  could  not 
correct  his  own. 

Peter  was  in  the  habit  of  beating  those  who  offended  him  with  his  cane. 
The  highest  nobleman  in  Russia  often  underwent  this  punishment.  Even  the 
Empress  Catherine,  his  wife,  sometimes  got  soundly  beaten.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  Czar  Peter  ordered  his  own  son  to  be  put  to  death,  and  that  he  was 
himself  privately  executed  in  prison. 

Peter  died  in  1725,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
wife,  the  Empress  Catherine.  She  had  been  a  country  girl,  and  the  Czar  Peter 
had  married  her  for  the  sake  of  her  beauty.  In  some  respects  Catherine  was 
a  good  sort  of  woman  ;  but,  among  other  faults,  she  was  rather  too  fond  of 
wine. 

She  reigned  only  about  two  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  her  husband's 
grandson,  named  Peter  the  Second.  He  died  in  1730,  and  left  the  throne  to 
Anne,  Duchess  of  Courland,  his  niece.  This  empress  was  a  good  sovereign, 
and  performed  many  praiseworthy  acts.  None  of  her  deeds,  however,  have 
been  more  famous  than  the  building  of  a  palace  of  ice.  This  stately  and  beau- 
tiful structure  was  built  on  a  frozen  lake.  Instead  of  wood  or  hewn  stone,  it 
was  composed  entirely  of  blocks  of  ice.  The  furniture  was  likewise  of  ice; 
and  even  the  beds  were  of  the  same  material.  When  it  was  illuminated  within, 
the  whole  edifice  glittered  and  sparkled  as  if  it  were  made  of  diamonds. 

The  successor  of  Anne  was  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Peter  the 
Great.  She  mounted  the  throne  in  i  740,  and  reigned  twenty-two  years.  Her 
succesor  was  Peter  the  Third,  who  began  to  reign  in  i  762.  He,  like  Peter 
the  Great,  had  a  wife  named  Catherine.  They  had  not  long  sat  together  on 
the  throne  when  she  contrived  to  depose  Peter,  and  make  herself  sole  ruler 
of  Russia.     It  is  supposed  that  she  afterward  caused  him  to  be  murdered. 

In  the  early  part  of  her  reign  she  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  Poland,  which 
produced  a  civil  war  and  terminated  eventually  in  the  conquest  and  partition 
of  that  unfortunate  country.  In  1769  the  Turks  declared  war  against  Russia, 
which  was  at  first  favorable  to  their  arms,  but  they  were  afterward  defeated 
with  great  slaughter  on  the  Dneister,  and  compelled  to  abandon  Choczim. 
At  this  period  was  fought  the  celebrated  action  before  Tchesme,  in  which  the 
Turkish  fleet  was  completely  destroyed — an  achievement  mainly  owing  to  the 
gallant  conduct  of  Admirals  Elphinstone  and  Greig,  Englishmen  in  the  Rus- 
sian service. 

In  1 791  the  intrigues  of  Russia,  Austria  and  Prussia,  for  the  partition  of 
Poland,  commenced,  and,  carried  on  for  several  years,  were  brought  to  a  con- 
clusion by  two  sieges  of  Warsaw.  In  the  first,  Kosciusko  was  made  prisoner; 
and  in  die  second  the  Poles,  unassisted  by  his  genius,  gave  way  in  a  fearful 
assault,  which  in  1 794  consummated  the  ruin  of  Poland  as  a  nation.  Cath- 
erine's further  plans  of  conquest  and  aggrandizement  were  cut  short  by  her 


368  THE    GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

death  in  i  796,  after  a  reign  of  thirt\  -five  years.     She  was  succeeded  by  her 
son  Paul,  who  was  tiien  forty-three  years  old. 

The  Czar  Paul  possessed  none  of  his  mother's  talents,  and  was  of  a  verj 
stern  and  unamiable  disposition.  People  suspected  him  of  being  insane.  His 
conduct  grew  so  intolerable  that  some  of  his  principal  nobles  conspired  tfi 
kill  him. 


I 


CATHERINE  THE   GREAT  OF   RUSSIA. 

Paul  was  succeeded  by  Alexander  I.,  his  eldest  son.  This  emperor  reigned 
from  i8oT  till  1825.  During  his  reign  Russia  was  invaded  by  the  Emperor 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  at  the  head  of  nearly  half  a  million  of  men. 

The  policy  of  the  Russians  was  to  retire  before  the  irresistible  force  of  Na- 
poleon, laying  waste  the  country  as  they  went.  At  an  early  period  in  th( 
campaign  it  became  evident  that  Napoleon  had  brought  into   those  diinly- 


(IMh 


370  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

peopled  wilds  a  host  of  men  so  great  that  it  was  beyond  his  power  to  feed  them. 
It  was  impossible  to  carry  supplies  for  such  multitudes,  and  the  wasted  coun- 
try through  which  their  march  led  yielded  nothing  adequate  to  their  enormous 
wants.  Almost  from  the  beginning  the  soldiers  were  put  on  half-rations. 
Water  was  scanty  and  bad  ;  the  heat  of  the  weather  was  intense.  Large  num- 
bers of  the  hungry  soldiers  strayed  on  marauding  expeditions,  and  were  lost. 
The  mortality  soon  became  excessive,  and  the  army  left  ghastly  traces  of  its 
presence  in  the  carcasses  of  horses  and  the  nnburied  bodies  of  men  scattered 
thickly  along  the  line  of  march.  Before  they  reached  Moscow,  one-half  of 
the  men  had  sunk  under  the  hardships  of  the  journey. 

Although  the  French  army  had  penetrated  to  Moscow,  it  was  found  that 
they  could  not  remain  there.  The  Russians  set  the  city  on  fire.  Winter  was 
coming  on,  and  the  French  soldiers  had  nowhere  to  shelter  themselves. 
They  retreated  toward  Poland.  On  their  way  thither,  they  fought  many  bat- 
tles with  the  Russians,  and  the  weather  was  so  bitter  cold  that  the  bodies  of 
the  slain  were  frozen  stiff  The  snow  was  crimsoned  with  their  blood.  Before 
they  reached  the  frontiers  of  Poland,  three-fourths  of  the  army  were  destroyed. 
The  Emperor  Napoleon  fled  homeward  in  a  sledge,  and  returned  to  Paris. 

Nicholas  succeeded  Alexander  I.  in  1825  ;  he  was  a  man  of  great  abilities 
and,  though  of  a  despotic  temper,  greatly  contributed  to  the  advancement  of 
Russia  in  civilization.  In  1854  he  became  involved  in  a  war  with  Turkey, 
France  and  England.  The  latter  besieged  the  Russian  town  and  fortress  of 
Sebastopol  in  the  Crimea,  and  here  about  half  a  million  of  men  became  en- 
gaged in  the  mighty  contest.     This  was  called  the  Eastern  war. 

For  many  dreary  months,  while  the  allied  army  was  being  destroyed  by 
official  incapacity,  the  siege  went  on.  The  allies  never  for  a  moment  loosened 
their  hold  on  the  besieged  city.  Often  their  fire  was  intermitted  because  of 
the  difficulty  of  conveying  from  Balaklava  the  huge  masses  of  iron  which  it 
was  their  business  to  throw  into  Sebastopol.  Occasionally  it  was  discontinued 
for  a  time  that  preparations  might  be  made  for  greater  efforts.  Very  soon  it 
could  be  seen  that  Sebastopol  was  a  mass  of  ruins.  But  that  had  no  tendency 
to  weaken  the  defence.  The  Russians  fortified  a  position  outside  the  town  by 
means  of  earthworks  and  rifle-pits. 

One  very  strong  earthwork,  the  Malakoff  faced  the  French  position  ;  an- 
other, the  Redan,  was  in  front  of  the  English.  It  was  determined  to  carry 
these  works  by  assault.  The  French,  whose  trenches  were  now  within  fifteen 
yards  of  the  enemy,  were  able,  after  a  brief  but  violent  struggle,  to  take  secure 
possession  of  the  Malakoff. 

The  English  had  a  considerable  space  to  traverse  under  a  murderous  fire. 
But  they  forced  their  way  into  the  Redan,  and  looked  eagerly  for  reinforce- 
ments which  would  enable  them  to  hold  their  conquest.  Incapable  generalship 
left  them  without  support,  and  they  were  driven  out  with  terrible  loss. 


.J 


RUSSIA. 


371 


Next  day  the  attack  was  to  have  been  renewed.  But  the  Russian  position 
had  become  untenable.  Their  whole  army  was  conveyed  across  the  bay,  and 
the  southern  side  of  the  city  was  abandoned.  The  war  was  virtually  ended. 
The  Emperor  Nicholas  had  died — broken-hearted  by  the  disasters  of  this 
calamitous  struggle — and  his  son,  the  more  enlightened  Alexander,  was  now 
willing  to  negotiate.  He  had  maintained  the  contest  in  this  remote  corner  of 
his  dominions  at  enormous  cost  in  men  and  treasure,  and  he  could  maintain 
it  no  longer.  His  ships  had  been  sunk  to  save  them  from  the  enemy.  Sebas- 
topol — in  ruins — was  wrenched  away  from  him ;  his  impregnable  forts,  his  splen- 
did docks,  were  at  leisure  mined  and  blown  into  the  air  by  triumphant  foes. 
His  power  in  the  Black  sea  was  for  the  time  utterly  overthrown.     The  allies 


THE    SIEGE    OF   SEBASTOPOL. 

had  two  hundred  thousand  men  in  the  Crimea — a  force  which  he  was  now 
powerless  to  resist.     Peace  had  become  a  necessity  for  Russia. 

Under  the  rule  of  his- successor,  the  despotic  system  of  Nicholas  was  to 
an  important  extent  departed  from.  The  newspaper  press  experienced  sud- 
den enlargement.  So  urgent  was  the  demand  for  political  discussion,  that 
within  a  year  or  two  from  the  close  of  the  war  seventy  new  journals  were 
founded  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow  alone. 

The  enfranchised  press  began  to  call  loudly  for  the  education  of  the  peo- 
ple, for  their  participation  in  political  power,  for  many  other  needful  reforms. 
Chief  among  these,  not  merely  in  its  urgency,  but  also  in  its  popularity,  was 
the  emancipation  of  the  serfs. 


372 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


I 


Forty-eight  million  Russian  peasants  were  in  bondage — subject  to  the  ar- 
bitrary will  of  an  owner — bought  and  sold  with  the  properties  on  which  they 
labored.  This  unhappy  system  was  of  no  great  antiquity,  for  it  was  not  till 
the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  the  Russian  peasant  became  a  serf 
The  evil  institution  had  begun  to  die  out  in  the  west  before  it  was  legalized  in 
Russia.  Its  abolition  had  long  been  looked  forward  to.  Catherine  II.  had 
contemplated  this  great  reform,  and  so  also  had  her  grandson,  Alexander  I.  ; 
but  the  wars  in  which  they  spent  their  days  forbade  progress  in  any  useful  di- 
rection. Nicholas  very  early  in  his  reign  appointed  a  secret  committee  to 
consider  the  question  ;  but  the  Polish  insurrection  of  1830  marred  his  design. 
Another  fruitless  effort  was  made  in    1836.     In   1838  a  third  committee  was 

appointed,  but  its  work 
was  suspended  by  " a 
bad  harvest,"  and  never 
resumed.  Finally,  it  was 
asserted  that  the  dying 
emperor  bequeathed  to 
his  son  the  task  which 
he  himself  had  not  been 
permitted  to  accomplish. 
And  thus  it  came  to 
pass  that  when  Alexan- 
der ascended  the  throne 
the  general  expectation 
of  his  people  pointed  to 
the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs.  The  emperor 
shared  in  the  national 
desire.  At  his  corona- 
tion he  had  prepared 
the  somewhat  reluctant 
nobles    for    the    change 


w 


hich, 


although   it 


had 


ALEXANDER    II. 

been  long  foreshadowed,  was  to  too  many  of  them  very  unwelcome 

The  17th  of  March,  1861,  will  ever  be  a  memorable  day  in  Russian  civili- 
zation ;  for  20,000,000  of  human  beings,  who  were  slaves  the  day  before,  then 
became  free  men.  The  law  of  emancipation  bestowed  personal  freedom  on 
the  serfs.  For  two  years  those  who  were  household  servants  must  abide  in 
their  service ;  receiving,  however,  wages  for  their  work.  Those  who  had  pur- 
chased exemption  from  the  obligation  to  labor  for  their  lord  were  to  continue 
for  two  years  the  annual  payment.  At  the  end  of  that  time  all  serfs  entered 
on  possession  of  unqualified  freedom. 


RUSSIA. 


373 


Alexander  II.  was  assassinated  in  1881  by  the  agents  of  a  set  of  people 
calling  themselves  Nihilists,  or  Destructives.  The  murder  of  the  czar  brought 
down  upon  them  the  execrations  of  the  whole  world.  Immediately  after  his 
death,  his  son  was  pro- 
claimed emperor  under 
the  tide  of  Alexander  III. 

The  czars  have  for 
some  time  been  by  blood 
more  than  half  German. 
Their  mothers  have  been 
German,  their  wives  have 
been  German.  Alexan- 
der II.  was  more  German 
than  Russian.  He  was 
trained  by  his  German 
mother,  and  under  the 
influence  of  her  German 
kindred ;  after  marriage 
he  was  ruled  by  his  Ger- 
man wife. 

When  Alexander  II. 
came  to  the  throne,  Rus- 
sia was  undergoing  the 
stress  of  the  Crimean 
war,  which  was  already 
going  against  her,  and  all 
parties  had  to  unite  for 
a  time.  It  was  Russia 
against  all  the  great  pow- 
ers of  Europe,  save  Prus- 
sia, who  at  least  kept 
Austria  in  check  and  had 
prevented  her  from  ac- 
tively joining  the  unnatural  coalition  between  England  and  France.  Alexan- 
der II.  naturally  flung  himself  into  the  arms  of  his  kinsmen,  the  Hohenzol- 
lerns,  and  became  more  a  German  and  less  a  Russian  than  ever. 

Alexander  III.  came  to  the  throne  pledged  in  a  manner  to  the  anti-German 
party  and  its  foreign  policy.  He  was  born  March  1  2th,  i  S45.  He  married  the 
Princess  Maria  Dagfmar,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  in  November, 
1866.  The  Nihilists,  at  whose  hands  his  father  came  to  an  untimely  end,  have 
made  the  throne  of  Alexander  fraught  with  danger,  and  he  is  haunted  by  a 
constant  fear  of  assassination.     Who  his  friends  are  he  knows  not,  and  his 


READING   THE   EMANCIPATION    PROCLAMATION. 


374 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


servants  he  is  afraid  to  trust.  The  Nihilists  work  in  secret  and  in  the  dark. 
They  are,  however,  thoroughly  organized,  and  have  the  means  of  penetrating 
into  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  imperial  palace,  and  they  have  shown  that  they 
have  both  the  power  and  the  means  of  disseminating  their  views  by  the  print- 
ino--press.  In  some  of  these  secret  printing-offices  desperate  conflicts  have 
occurred  between  government  officials  and  Nihilists,  whose  work  was  the 
printing  of  sheets  distributed  by  their  organization.  All  this  has  given  the 
monarch  to  feel  that,  let  him  be  ever  so  much  a  favorite  with  his  people,  he  is 
at  every  moment  in  peril  of  his  life.  If  there  be  anywhere  even  a  small  body 
of  discontented  spirits,  the  more  especially  if  they  are  banded  together  by  the 
ties  of  some  political  theory,  and  bent  upon  assassination  as  a  means  to  carry 


DESTROYING    A    NIHILIST   PRINTING-OFFICE. 

it  out,  they  will,  most  likely,  sooner  or  later,  gain  their  end.  Nine  attempts 
may  fail,  but  the  tenth  will  succeed.  Nothing  works  such  a  change  in  a  weak 
man  as  this  constant  dread  of  an  unseen  murderer.  It  not  infrequently  shat- 
ters the  strongest  nerves. 

The  conquests  of  Russia  in  Central  Asia  have  within  a  few  years  attracted 
general  attention  ;  yet  the  Russian  advance  into  these  regions  began  centuries 
ago,  when  the  czars  of  Moscow,  who  succeeded  Ivan  IV.,  being  freed  from 
the  Tartar  invasion,  began  to  retaliate  upon  the  Mongols,  and  also  endeavored 
to  find  markets  for  their  manufactures,  which  were  so  inferior  in  quality  as  to 
be  unsalable  in  Europe.  Between  the  Ural  river,  which  is  the  natural  east- 
ern boundary  of  European  Russia,  and  the  Irtish,  formerly  on  the  south-west 


CROSSING   THE    STEPPES. 


(3-5) 


376  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

frontier  of  Siberia,  extended  boundless,  arid  plains,  called  steppes,  inhabited 
only  by  a  few  thousand  wandering  Kirghis.  These  tribes  maintained  an 
almost  constant  warfare  upon  the  Russian  frontier  settlements,  and  compelled 
the  Russians  to  pursue  them  far  into  the  interior  of  their  vast  territory.  In 
this  manner  the  Russian  domain  was  constantly  advancing  eastward,  but  al- 
though some  of  the  tribes  submitted  to  the  Russian  rule,  for  two  centuries  no 
one  could  say  who  was  really  master  of  the  vast  tracts  of  land  between  the  rich 
Khanates  of  Central  Asia  and  the  banks  of  the  Ural  and  Irtish.  A  considera- 
ble trade  e.xisted  between  these  khanates  and  the  towns  of  Astrakhan  and 
Orenburg,  but  it  was  carried  on  rather  by  Bokhara  merchants,  who  crossed 
tlie  steppes,  than  by  Russian  traders ;  for  the  latter  could  not  venture  abroad 
without  great  risk  of  being  robbed  and  killed  in  the  steppes,  or  plundered  and 
sold  into  bondage  in  the  khanates  themselves:  while  the  former  managed  to 
traverse  the  wilderness  in  safety,  and  to  make  good  bargains  with  the  Mus- 
covites. 

The  Emperor  Nicholas  attempted  to  compel  the  khanates  to  a  fairer  sys- 
tem of  trading,  but  with  little  success.  An  expedition  sent  out  in  1839,  under 
Count  Petrovsky,  perished  in  the  wilderness  for  want  of  food  and  water,  their 
sufferings  being  aggravated  by  constant  fights  with  the  hostile  nomadic  tribes 
and  the  regular  forces  of  the  khans. 

Finally,  by  a  succession  of  Russian  victories,  the  Khan  of  Khiva  was  forced 
to  make  cessions  which  brought  the  entire  east  coast  of  the  Caspian  into 
the  hands  of  Russia,  enabling  her  to  communicate  with  and  supply  all  her  mili- 
tary lines  of  operation  by  rail,  river  and  the  sea,  from  St.  Petersburg  and  the 
Baltic. 

Russia  estimates  the  military  importance  of  the  Caspian  sea  so  highly, 
that,  while  reserving  to  herself  the  unrestricted  use  of  its  waters,  she  has 
forced  Persia  to  accede  to  a  treaty  which  prevents  that  power  from  main- 
taining any  vessels  of  war  upon  it,  although  the  south  and  south-west  shores 
are  part  of  its  territory. 

We  have  now  traced  the  gradual  rise  of  Russian  power,  from  the  period 
when  the  rude  Varagian  chieftain  first  established  his  sovereignty,  a  thousand 
years  ago.  The  comparatively  small  territory  which  then  yielded  to  his  sway  is 
now  part  of  the  most  majestic  empire  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Extending 
Irom  latitude  38  deg.  20  min.  to  about  -]•]  deg.  30  min.  north,  and  from  longi- 
tude 17  deg.  38  min.  east  to  about  170  deg.  west,  its  greatest  length  from 
west  to  east  is  about  6.000  miles,  and  its  greatest  breadth  (exclusive  of  isl- 
ands) about  2,300  miles.  Its  total  surface  is  estimated  to  comprise  one-twen- 
ty-sixth of  the  entire  surface  of  the  globe,  and  to  represent  one-sixth  of  its 
firm  land.  Its  total  area,  in  square  miles,  is  8,360,000,  and  its  population  more 
than  85,000,000  of  people  ! 

St.  Petersburg,  the  modern  capital  of  Russia,  contains  700,000  inhabitants. 


RUSSIA. 


377 


It  was  founded  by  Peter  the  Great  in  the  year  1 703  amid  the  marshes  througn 
which  the  river  Neva  discharges  its  waters  into  the  sea.  In  the  number  and 
vast  size  of  its  public  edifices  the  Russian  capital  may  compare  with  any  other 
city  in  Europe,  and  even  surpasses  most  of  them. 

The  longest  street,  and  most  fashionable,  as  well  as  the  most  animated 
thoroughfare  of  the  city,  is  the  Newsky  Prospect.  In  St.  Petersburg  are  some 
of  the  finest  cathedrals  in  the  world,  amongst  which  may  be  mentioned  St. 
Isaac's  cathedral,  the  foundation-pile  alone  of  which  cost  over  a  million  of 
dollars;  Smolnoi  church,  which  has  twenty-four  colossal  stoves  for  heatin"  the 
building,  and  representing  small  chapels;  the  cathedral  of  St.  Petersburo-, 


NEWSKY    PROSPECT. 


built  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  238  feet  in  length  and  182  feet  in  width;  the 
cathedral  and  fortress  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  which  contains  the  remains 
of  all  the  deceased  emperors  and  empresses  of  Russia,  from  Peter  the  Great, 

,  with  the  single  exception  of  Peter  II.,  who,  dying  at  Moscow,  was  also  buried 
there. 

'  Moscow,  the  ancient  metropolis  of  the  Russian  Empire,  is  situated  on  the 
banks  of  the  Moskwa  river.  It  was  founded  in  1 147,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
irregular  cities  in  the  world.  Its  irregularity  of  design  is  not  so  conspicuous 
as  formerly,  prior  to  the  conflagration  of  181 2,  when  its  flames  e.xerted  so 
fatal  an  influence  over  the  destinies  of  the  first  Napoleon.  But  Moscow  is 
now  more  splendid  than  before;  half  Asiatic  and  half  European. 


378 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


In  the  heart  of  the  city  stands  the  celebrated  KremHn,  or  citadel,  which  is 
itself  two  miles  in  circuit.  It  has  been  completely  repaired  since  the  injuries 
it  received  in  1812,  and  is  crowded  with  buildings  of  almost  every  imaginable 
kind. 

In  the  little  palace  of  Moscow,  within  the  Kremlin,  on  a  pedestal  of  granite, 
stands  the  monarch  of  all  bells.  Its  height  is  over  twenty-one  feet,  its  circum- 
ference sixty-seven  feet,  and  its  weight  is  400,000  pounds. 

The  cathedral  of  the  Assumption  is  also  within  the  Kremlin,  and  here  all 
the  emperors  are  crowned,  and  a  grander  sight  than  this  ceremony  cannot  well 
be  imagined.  Amongst  the  relics  and  objects  of  interest  which  it  contains, 
there  is  an  immense  Bible,  presented  to  the  cathedral  by  the  mother  of  Peter 
the  Great.     The  binding,  which  is  covered  with  emeralds  and  other  precious 


KREMLIN    AT    MOSCOW. 

Stones,  cost  over  $1,000,000.  Here  is  also  a  nail  from  the  true  cross,  a  robe 
of  the  Saviour  and  a  portion  of  that  of  the  Virgin,  a  picture  of  the  Virgin  by 
St.  Paul,  and  numerous  other  relics. 

Situated  behind  the  cathedral  is  the  "  House  of  the  Holy  Synod."  It  is 
celebrated  for  being  the  place  where  the  Mir,  or  holy  oil,  is  kept  and  made, 
with  which  all  the  children  of  Russia  are  baptized.  The  oil,  made  every  three 
years,  amounting  to  three  or  four  gallons,  is  sanctified  by  some  drops  of  the 
same  oil  that  Mary  Magdalen  used  in  anointing  the  feet  of  the  Saviour.  In 
christening,  the  priest  uses  a  small  camel's-hair  brush,  with  which,  having 
dipped  it  in  the  oil,  he  makes  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  the  child's  eyes,  that  it 
may  see  only  the  way  to  do  good ;  over  its  mouth,  that  it  may  say  no  evil ;  over 
its  ears,  that  it  may  not  listen  to  evil  counsel ;  over  its  hands,  that  it  may  do  no 
evil ;  and  over  its  feet,  that  it  may  only  walk  in  the  path  of  holiness. 

Close  to  the  Kremlin  walls  on  the  outside  stands  the  cathedral  church 


RUSSIA. 


379 


of  St.  Basil  the  Beatified.  It  differs  in  appearance  from  Russian  churches  in 
general,  possessing  no  fewer  than  twenty  domes  and  towers,  which  are  not 
only  of  different  shapes  and  sizes,  but'  are  gilded  and  painted  in  all  possible 
varieties  of  color.  It  was  erected  by  the  czar  John  the  Terrible  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  who,  it  is  said,  was  so  well  pleased  with  the  work  of  the  Italian 


CATHEDRAL    OF    ST.    BASIL. 


architect  that,  after  eulogizing  his  skill,  he  ordered  his  eyes  to  be  put  out  that 
he  might  never  erect  another. 

Novgorod,  the  cradle  of  the  Russian  Empire,  is  situated  on  the  Volkhov 
river,  and  contains  a  population  of  20,000.     The  churches  are  the  only  surviv- 


380 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


ino-  monuments  of  the  greatness  of  Novgorod.  Foremost  among  them  stands 
the  cathedral  of  St.  Sophia,  or,  as  it  was  formerly  styled,  "  the  heart  and  soul 
of  Great  Novgorod,"  where  the  princes  were  crowned. 

Odessa,  a  port  on  the  Black  sea,  is  noted  for  its  bombardment  for  twelve 
hours  by  an  Anglo-French  squadron  on  the  22(1  of  April,  1854.  There  are 
no  less  than  twenty  Jewish  synagogues  at  Odessa,  while  there  are  but  thirteen 
Russo-Greek  churches.  More  than  half  the  number  of  inhabitants  is  made  up 
of  Jews. 

Odessa  presents  a  very  handsome  appearance  from  the  sea.  The  build- 
inors  are  modern  and  imposing.  There  is  a  magnificent  flight  of  marble  stairs, 
a  hundred  feet  wide,  leading  from  the  sea  to  the  summit  of  the  bluff  on  which 


ODESSA. 


the  city  stands.  The  streets  are  broad  and  well  paved,  and  on  each  side, 
flanking  the  sidewalks,  is  a  double  row  of  shade-trees. 

The  religion  of  Russia  is  Greek  Catholic.  The  Greek  Church  separated 
from  the  Roman  Church  at  the  time  of  the  dismemberment  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  when  Rome  and  Constantinople  were  each  striving  to  be  the  head. 
At  this  period  a  great  controversy  about  the  worship  of  images  began  to 
agitate  the  mind  of  Europe.  East  and  West  were  divided  against  each  other, 
and  against  themselves.  Leo  III.,  Emperor  of  the  East,  believing  that  the 
victories  of  Islam  were  owing  more  to  Christian  weakness  than  to  Moslem 
strength,  resolved  to  root  out  the  idolatry  which  had  struck  its  roots  so  deeply 
in  the  church. 

All  Christendom  was  severed  into  two   great  bands,  image-servers  and 


RUSSIA. 


381 


image-breakers.     Pope  Gregory  III.  solemnly  denounced  the  sin  of  image- 
breaking  under  pain  of   excom- 
munication.     But,     in     spite    of 

threat  and  curse,  the  work  went 

on,    and    a     gulf,     never    since 

bridged     over,     grew     between 

the    Churches     of     Rome     and 

of    Constantinople.     The    strife 

lasted  for  a  hundred  and  twenty 

years,  lulled  only  for  a    season, 

but  not  settled,  by  a  decision  of 

the  second  Council  of  Nicaea  in 

787,  which  sought  to  cast  oil  on 

the    waves    by    permitting    the 

veneration,    but    forbidding    the 

worship    of     images,    until    the 

final  triumph  of  the  image  party 

in  the  Council  of  Constantinople 

in  1842.     From  this  controversy 

we    may    date    the    rise    of    the 

Greek    Church,    whose    present 

stronghold  is  Russia. 

The  Greek  Church  does  not  archimandrite. 

acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  nor  claim  infallibility.     It  is  gov-. 

erned  by  Patriarchs.  Celibacy  is 
not  compulsory  on  its  clergy.  Like 
the  Church  of  Rome,  it  has  also  mon- 
asteries, with  governors  over  them, 
who  are  called  Archimandrites,  and 
who  are  the  same  as  abbots  in  the 
Roman  Church.  Cloisters,  in  which 
females  reside  for  life,  under  a  vow 
of  chastity  and  religion,  are  also 
numerous  in  Russia. 

The  Russian  is  the  strangest 
mixture  of  civilization  and  barbar- 
ism, of  great  talent,  polished  man- 
ners, and  domestic  affability,  com- 
bined with  qualities  and  habits 
which  mark  him  much  below  the 
RUSSIAN  NUNS  BEGGING  ALMS.  average     European     level.       The 

reason    is    pardy    to    be    found    in    history.     Peter   the    Great    set    himself. 


382 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


to  work  to  force  his  subjects  up  to  the  standard  of  the  rest  of  Europe. 
He  found  them  semi-savages  of  Asiatic  origin  ;  he  left  them  with  many  of  the 
externals  of  London  and  Paris.  He  found  them  with  Moscow  for  their 
capital,  far  in  the  heart  of  the  country;  he  left  them  with  St.  Petersburg,  a 
grand  new  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva,  and  with  immediate  connection  with 
the  Baltic.  He  changed  army,  navy,  laws,  customs ;  he  actually  went  and 
studied  as  a  shipwright  in  Holland,  that  he  might  teach  his  people  how  to 
build  ships,  for  in  those  days  Holland  was  the  great  commercial  emporium. 
He  went  to  Paris  to  learn  manners  and  arts ;  he  eat  and  drank  enough  for  a 
giant,  but  could  be  a  gentleman  when  he  chose ;  and  he  did  all  this  by  the 


RUSSIAN    FAMILY. 


force  of  an  overwhelming  will  and  the  autocratic  power  of  his  czarship ;  but 
his  life  and  work  was  in  a  certain  sense  artificial.  Work  as  he  would,  he 
could  not  civilize  those  enormous  tracts  of  Russia  proper,  of  Siberia,  and  of 
the  East. 

The  people  are  exceedingly  superstitious  in  regard  to  ghosts,  house-spirits, 
and  tlie  evil  eye.  They  have  been  seen  to  make  violent  gestures  to  the  wind, 
to  induce  it  to  change  and  blow  the  sparks  of  a  burning  house  away  from 
other  property  which  was  being  endangered.  Some  twenty-five  years  ago  a 
balloon  went  up  from  St.  Petersburg,  under  charge  of  a  French  aeronaut  in  the 
car.  It  was  lost  sight  of,  and  the  place  of  its  descent  could  not  be  ascertained. 
At  last  it  was  discovered  that  it  had  come  down  in  a  country  village  at  some 
distance,  and  that  the  peasants  had  murdered  the  Frenchman,  under  the  con- 


RUSSIA. 


383 


viction  that  he  was  a  supernatural  being,  especially  as  they  could  not  under- 
stand a  word  he  said. 

Our  account  of  Russia  would  be  quite  incomplete  without  some  mention 
of  Siberia,  the  cold,  northern  country  to  which  political  exiles  have  been  sent 
in  such  numbers.  It  comprises  nearly  all  the  northern  part  of  Asia.  At 
present  Russia  only  looks  upon  Siberia  as  a  country  ricii  in  furs,  whence  trib- 
ute-money may  be  exacted  ;  but  snow-covered,  thinly-peopled,  and  poor  in 
provisions  and  means  of  communication  ;  and  the  government  officials  are  de- 
testable. Men  who  are  sent  as  convicts  to  Siberia  suffer  the  most  wretched 
fate,  and  are  driven  along  in  chained  gangs.     The  dreaded  words,  "  Siberian 


m3T^ 


4  '-^^f^^    ■  liF      V*< 


GOLD    MINES,    SIBERIA. 


exile,"  comprise  all  degrees  of   human  misery,  from  dreary  banishment  to 
physical  sufferings  of  the  most  excruciating  kind. 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Atkinson,  in  whose  books  upon  Siberia  and 
Tartary  are  many  interesting  details,  were  known  to  be  about  to  leave  Mos- 
cow on  a  prolonged  tour  in  these  wild  regions,  the  families  and  friends  ol  these 
unhappy  exiles,  many  of  them  lost  for  long  years  to  their  native  land,  crowded 
about  the  travellers  with  messages  to  the  objects  of  their  affection ;  and  it  is 
a  fact  that  the  Atkinsons  constantly  went  out  of  their  way,  that  they  might 
deliver  these  messages  in  lonely  villages,  in  nameless  solitudes,  and  some- 
times even  in  the  very  mines.  Mr.  Atkinson  speaks  of  two  Russian  noble- 
men, one  of  whom  worked  in  a  mine,  the  other  cultivated  a  small  farm.  In 
both  instances,  the  wife  had  voluntarily  accompanied  her  husband. 


384 


THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 


Even  hospitality,  that  true  Sclavonic  virtue,  has  not  become  acclimatized 
in  this  inhospitable  region.  When  a  man  is  going  to  visit  his  neighbor,  he 
never  goes  straight  to  his  house,  but  walks  along  the  road,  and  stops  as  if  by 
chance  at  the  window  and  begins  a  conversation ;  then,  if  the  master  or  mis- 
tress wishes  to  see  him,  they  invite  him  in. 

When  the  samovar  is  ready,  they  drink  tea  out  of  saucers,  now  and  then 
takino-  a  bite  of  a  piece  of  sugar.  In  this  way  they  consume  about  three 
cups,  and  then  turn  the  cups  upsidedown,  placing  on  the  bottom  the  remains 
of  the  sugar  they  have  been  nibbling  at. 

As  soon  as  tea  is  over  the  guest  rises  to  go,  and  then  the  following  dia- 
logue invariably  takes  place: 

"Why  are  you  in  such  a  hurry?  "  says  the  hostess. 

"  Time  to  go  home,"  answers  the  guest. 

"Stay  a  litde  longer." 

"Thank  you ;  you  have  given  us  plenty  to  eat  and  drink." 

"  There  was  but  litde." 

"  No ;  there  was  quite  enough  ;  we  had  plenty." 

This  conversation,  which  always  takes  place  and  is  almost  mechanically 
repeated,  being  ended,  the  guest  approaches  the  host,  and  taking  his  hands, 
says,  "  I  thank  you  for  the  vodka,  the  tea,  the  cakes,  the  sugar,"  etc. 

It  is  indispensable,  when  thanking  the  host,  to  enumerate  everything  the 
guest  has  consumed  during  his  visit.  At  the  end  of  this  catalogue  the  visitor 
humbly  begs  his  host  to  come  and  see  him,  which,  after  a  time,  he  does,  and 
things  go  on  in  exactly  the  same  way.  Care  must  be  taken  that  the  viands 
provided  are  of  equal  quantity  and  quality.  If  at  any  time  a  man  eats  or 
drinks  more  than  his  host  did  when  a  guest  on  a  former  occasion,  quarrels, 
upbraidings,  or  sarcastic  remarks  are  the  result. 

"  I  gave  them  tea  and  sugar,"  the  host  will  be  heard  to  say,  "  and  they 
gave  me  nothing  but  tea  ;  "  or  again,  "  I  gave  them  cake,  and  had  nothing  but 
bread  in  return." 


SIBERIAN    DOG-SLEDGE. 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


TURKEY. 


fIDWAY  between  Asia  and  Africa,  having  the  Black  sea  upon  the 
north  and  the  Mediterranean  sea  upon  the  south,  lies  Turkey. 
In  one  sense  the  centre  of  the  hemisphere  which  contains  it,  this 
country,  by  its  geographical  position  as  well  as  its  political  im- 
port, is,  so  to  speak,  the  "  hinge  "  of  the  eastern  continent. 

Comprising  in  Europe  196,770  square  miles,  with  a  population 
of  nearly  seventeen  millions,  and  in  Asia  664,272  square  miles,  and  a 
population  about  equal  to  that  in  Europe,  there  are  to  be  added  to  the  area 
1,036,350  square  miles  in  Africa,  having  a  population  of  1 1,000,000  ;  making  a 
grand  total  of  about  two  millions  of  square  miles  and  forty-four  millions  of 
people.  This  entire  country,  including  all  dependencies,  is  known  as  the 
Ottoman  Empire. 

And  the  significance  borne  by  its  geographical  situation  has  been,  almost 
since  its  first  existence  as  an  empire,  sustained  by  its  political  import  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe  and  Asia.  For  this  reason— and  equally  whether  we  con- 
sider it  in  its  palmy  days  and  under  monarchs  whose  achievements  have  be- 
come matters  of  hio-h  consideration  in  the  history  of  the  world,  or  at  the  pres- 
2.5  (3S5) 


I 


386  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

ent  time,  when,  as  the  "  Sick  Man,"  it  challenges  no  less  the  attention  of  hu- 
manity everywhere — Turkey  may  not  improperly  receive  the  title  which  we 
have  ventured  to  give  to  it,  that  of  the  hinge  of  the  eastern  continent.  Shorn, 
by  the  exigencies  of  war  and  the  devastation  of  foreign  hosts,  of  much  of  its 
ancient  dominion,  the  Ottoman  Empire  at  present  comprises,  besides  Turkey 
in  Asia  and  Turkey  in  Europe,  the  principalities  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia, 
Servia  and  Montenegro,  in  Europe  ;  Egypt,  with  Nubia,  Tripoli  and  Tunis,  in 
Africa ;  and  a  part  of  Arabia,  including  the  holy  cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina,  in 
Asia. 

The  religion  of  the  Turk  is  Mahomtean.  He  believes  in  one  God, 
Allah,  and  Mahomet,  his  prophet.  The  simplicity  of  the  faith  and  the  spir- 
ituality of  its  practice,  involving  devout  prayer  to  one  Supreme  Being  several 
times  in  the  course  of  the  day,  does  produce  certain  ennobling  effects.  The 
Turk  faithfully  follows  out  his  religious  obligations  in  a  way  which  might  put 
many  Christians  to  shame ;  and  he  is  sober  in  regard  to  wine,  as  strictly  en- 
joined by  his  scriptures,  the  Koran.  But  the  exceedingly  coarse  nature  of 
the  heaven  which  Mahomet  promised  to  his  faithful  disciples  is  such  as  to  undo 
all  the  good  effects  of  their  abstinence  here.  Eating  and  drinking,  and  all 
sensual  delights,  are  what  the  Turk  looks  forward  to  when  he  shall  be  clothed 
with  his  new  body,  as  the  reward  of  the  virtues  he  is  commanded  to  practise 
on  earth ;  and  he  is  not  at  all  sure,  indeed  it  is  more  than  doubtful,  whether 
his  wives  and  daughters  will  share  the  bliss.  Thus  the  domestic  affections  are 
unsupported  by  the  spiritual  hopes  which  nourish  the  beautiful  blossoms  of 
love  in  a  Christian  home.  His  paradise  is  at  best  a  very  questionable  one  in 
point  of  goodness,  and  such  as  it  is,  he  looks  forward  to  it  selfishly. 

Some  of  the  leading  articles  of  belief  are  :  i.  There  is  but  one  God.  2. 
There  are  angels  of  various  ranks;  among  them  a  fallen  spirit,  Eblis,  driven 
from  Paradise  for  refusing  to  worship  Adam  ;  also  inferior  spirits,  liable  to 
death,  called  Genii  and  Peris.  3.  There  are  six  great  prophets — Adam,  Noah, 
Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus,  Mahomet.  4.  There  is  a  hell,  called  Jehennam,  and 
a  Paradise  of  wondrous  beauty,  full  of  sensual  delights.  5.  Men  have  no 
free-will ;  but  all  things  are  ruled  by  an  unchanging  fate — a  doctrine  tending 
at  first  to  kindle  reckless  fury  in  batde,  but  in  the  hour  of  peace  a  source  of 
corroding  indolence. 

Devout  Moslems  practise  four  great  religious  duties:  i.  Washing,  of 
curious  nicety,  followed  by  prayers  five  times  a  day,  with  the  face  towards 
Mecca.  2.  The  giving  of  one-tenth  in  charity.  3.  Fasting  from  rise  to  set 
of  sun  during  the  thirty  days  of  the  month  Rhamadan.  Pork  and  wine  are 
specially  forbidden  at  all  times.  4.  A  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  at  least  once  in 
a  lifetime,  which,,  however,  may  be  performed  by  proxy. 

As  the  time  appointed  for  the  resurrection  approaches,  the  sun  will  rise  in 
the  west ;  beasts  and  inanimate  things  will  speak  ;  and,  finally,  a  wind  ^vi!! 


TURKEY.  3j^7 

sweep  away  the  souls  of  those  who  have  faith,  even  if  equal  only  to  a  orain 
of  mustard-seed,  so  that  the  world  shall  be  left  in  ignorance.  After  this  shall 
come  the  last  day.     Then  forty  years  of  oblivion,  followed  by  the  resurrection. 

Next,  the  day  of  judgment,  when  the  righteous  shall  enter  paradise,  and 
the  wicked  hell ;  both,  however,  having  first  to  go  over  the  bridge  Al  Sirat, 
laid  over  the  midst  of  hell,  finer  than  a  hair,  sharper  than  the  edge  of  a  sword 
and  beset  with  thorns  on  every  side.  Upon  this  uncomfortable  thoroughfare 
the  righteous  will  proceed  with  ease  and  swiftness ;  but  the  wicked,  probably 
overweighted  by  their  sins,  will  be  precipitated  headlong  into  hell — a  place  di- 
vided by  the  Koran  into  seven  stories  or  apartments,  respectively  assigned  to 
Mahometans,  Jews,  Christians,  Sabians,  Magians,  idolaters;  and  the  lowest 
of  all  to  the  hypocrites,  who,  outwardly  professing  religion,  in  reality  had 
none. 

Of  Mahomet  himself  we  will  speak  hereafter  when  we  come  to  treat 
of  Arabia.  The  Arabians  who  followed  Mahomet  were  called  Saracens. 
The  kings  or  rulers  of  the  Saracen  Empire  were  called  Caliphs,  and  resided 
at  Bagdad,  a  splendid  city  which  they  built  on  the  river  Tigris,  in  Mesopotamia. 
These  caliphs  extended  their  empire  over  a  considerable  part  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  and  some  portions  of  Europe. 

To  the  north  of  Mesopotamia  there  were  several  tribes  of  Tartars,  among 
which  were  some  called  Turks.  These  were  darinsf  warriors,  and  such  was 
their  fame  that  the  caliphs  induced  many  of  them  to  come  to  Bagdad  and 
serve  as  soldiers. 

In  process  of  time,  the  Turks  acquired  .great  influence  at  Bagdad,  and 
finally  overturned  the  Saracen  Empire,  made  themselves  masters  of  nearly  all 
the  Saracen  possessions,  and  adopted  the  Mahometan  religion.  Thus  the 
Turkish  Empire  became  the  successor  of  the  Saracen  Empire,  and  included  in 
its  dominions  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Palestine,  and  other  Asiatic  countries  which 
the  Saracens  had  conquered  from  the  Greek  Empire. 

In  the  year  1356  the  Emir  (a  Turkish  name  for  commander)  Solyman 
crossed  the  Hellespont  and  seized  a  castle  on  the  European  shore.  This 
event  marks  the  first  firm  footing  gained  by  the  Turks  on  European  soil ;  and 
they  never  since  have  lost  their  hold. 

Under  Amurath  I.  (i  360-1 389)  Adrianople,  being  taken  by  the  Turks, 
was  made  for  a  time  the  centre  of  their  European  possessions.  A  league  was 
formed  by  the  Sclavonic  nations  along  the  Danube  to  repel  the  infidel  in- 
vaders, but  in  vain.  The  crescent — such  was  the  device  borne  on  the  Turkish 
banners — still  shone  victorious  in  Thrace  and  Servia. 

Bajazet,  a  drunken  sensualist,  who,  succeeding  his  father,  reigned  from 
1389  to  1402.  exchanged  the  title  Emir  for  the  prouder  name  of  Sultan.  At 
Nicopolis  he  routed  the  chivalry  of  Hungary  and  France,  which  had  mustered 
to  roll  back  the  dark  flood  of  Moslem  war.     Classic  Greece,  too,  was  ravaged 


388  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

by  his  victorious  hordes.  Steadily  he  seemed  to  be  advancing  in  the  gigantic 
plan  of  European  conquest  sketched  out  by  his  ambitious  father,  when  the 
most  terrific  warrior  Asia  has  ever  borne,  rising  on  his  eastern  frontier,  dashed 
his  power  into  fragments. 

This  was  Timour  the  Lame,  whose  name  has  been  corrupted  into  Tamer- 
lane, a  Mongol  descended  from  Zenghis  Khan.  From  his  capital,  Samarcand, 
he  spread  his  conquests  on  every  side — from  the  Chinese  wall  to  the  Nile; 
from  the  springs  of  the  Ganges  to  the  heart  of  Russia.  Whenever  this  demon 
conqueror  took  a  city,  he  raised  as  a  trophy  of  his  success  a  pyramid  of  bleed- 
ino-  human  heads.  Bajazet  was  obliged  to  forego  the  intended  siege  of  Con- 
stantinople by  the  attack  of  the  ferocious  Mongol  upon  the  eastern  frontier  of 
his  newly-acquired  dominions  in  Asia  Minor.  The  decisive  batde  was  fought 
at  Angora,  where  Bajazet,  utterly  defeated,  was  made  prisoner.  Carried 
about  with  the  Mongol  army  in  a  litter  with  iron  lattices,  which  gave  rise  to 
the  common  story  of  his  imprisonment  in  an  iron  cage,  the  Turkish  sultan 
died,  eight  months  after,  of  a  broken  heart.  His  conqueror,  Timour,  died  in 
1405,  while  on  the  march  to  invade  China. 

Four  Turkish  sultans  reigned  between  the  wretched  Bajazet  and  the  con- 
queror of  Constantinople. 

Amurath  II.,  last  of  the  four,  having  died  at  Adrianople  in  1451,  his  son 
Mahomet,  crossing  rapidly  to  Europe,  was  crowned  second  sultan  of  that 
name.  He  was  a  terrible  compound  of  first  literary  taste  with  revolting 
cruelty  and  lust.  One  of  his  very  first  acts  after  he  became  sultan  was  to 
cause  his  infant  brother  to  be  drowned,  while  the  baby's  mother  was  congratu- 
lating him  on  his  accession. 

The  throne  of  the  Eastern  Empire  was  then  filled  by  Constantine  Palae- 
ologus,  no  unworthy  wearer  of  the  purple.  Limb  after  limb  had  been  lopped 
from  the  great  trunk.  There  was  still  life  in  the  heart,  though  it  throbbed 
with  feeble  pulses ;  but  now  came  the  mortal  thrust. 

After  more  than  a  year  of  busy  preparation,  70,000  Turks,  commanded  by 
Mahomet  II.  in  person,  sat  down  in  the  spring  of  1453  before  Constantinople. 
Their  lines  stretched  across  the  landward  or  western  side  of  the  triangle  on 
which  the  city  was  built.  A  double  wall,  and  a  great  ditch  100  feet  deep,  lay 
in  their  front;  and  within  this  rampart  the  Emperor  Constantine  marshalled 
his  litde  band  of  defenders. 

The  siege  began.  On  both  sides  cannon  and  muskets  of  a  rude  kind  were 
used.  One  great  gun  deserves  special  notice.  It  was  cast  by  a  European 
brass-founder  at  Adrianople,  and  threw  a  stone  ball  of  600  pounds  to  the  dis- 
tance of  a  mile.  But  such  a  cannon  could  be  fired  only  six  or  seven  times  a 
day.  Lances  and  arrows  flew  thick  from  both  lines ;  and  heavy  stones  from 
the  ballists  filled  up  the  pauses  of  the  cannonade. 

The  sultan,   feeling  that  his  attack  by  land   must  be   seconded  by  sea, 


■ 

ll.'' 

1 

J' 

^ 

i  ■ 

1 

k 

■. 

TURKEY.  339 

formed  a  bold  plan. 
It  was    to  convey  a 
part  of  his  fleet  over- 
land  from    the    Pro- 
pontis,    and     launch 
them    in    the    upper 
!  end   of   the   harbor. 
The  distance  was  six 
miles  ;  but,  by  means 
of  rollers  running-  on 
a  tramway  of  greased 
planks,  eighty  of  the 
Turkish  war  vessels 
were  carried  over  the 
rugged     ground    in 
one  night.     A  float- 
ing  battery  was  then    made,   from   which   the 
Turkish  cannon  began  to  play  with  fearful  ef- 
fect on  the  weakest  side  of  the  city. 

When  the  attack  had  lasted  for  seven  weeks, 
MOSQUE.  ^  broad  gap  was  to  be  seen  in  the  central  ram- 

part. Many  attempts  at  negotiation  had  come 
to  nothing,  for  Constantine  refused  to  give  up  the  city,  and  nothing  else  would 
satisfy  the  sultan.  At  last  a  day  was  fixed  for  the  grand  assault.  At  day- 
break the  long  lines  of  Turks  made  their  attack.  When  the  strength  of  the 
Christians  was  almost  exhausted  in  endless  strife  with  the  swarms  of  ir- 
regular troops  who  led  the  way,  the  terrible  Janizaries  advanced.  The 
storm  grew  louder,  the  rattle  of  the  Turkish  drums  mingling  with  the  thunder 
of  the  ordnance.  Just  then  the  brave  Giustiniani,  defending  the  great  breach, 
was  wounded ;  and  when,  after  this  loss,  the  defence  grew  slacker,  a  body  of 
Turks,  following  the  Janizary,  Hassan,  clambered  over  the  ruined  wall  into  the 
city.  Amid  the  rush  Constantine  Palaeologus,  last  of  the  Caesars,  fell  dead, 
sabred  by  an  unknown  hand  ;  and  with  him  fell  the  Eastern  Empire. 

At  noon  on  the  same  day  Mahomet  summoned  the  Moslems  to  prayer  in  the 
mosque  of  St.  Sophia — thus  establishing  the  rites  of  Islam  where  Christian 
worship  had  been  held  ever  since  the  days  of  Constantine  the  Great. 

The  reigns  of  most  of  the  Turkish  sultans  have  been  full  of  crime  and 
bloodshed.  Sultan  Selim,  who  began  to  reign  in  151 2,  invaded  Egypt  and 
conquered  it.  The  Egyptian  soldiers  were  called  Mamelukes.  Thousands 
of  them  were  taken  prisoners. 

After  the  victory  the  sultan  ordered  a  splendid  throne  to  be  erected  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Nile,  near  the  gates  of  Cairo.     Sitting  on  his  throne,  he 


390 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


caused  all  the  Mamelukes  to  be  massacred  in  his  sight,  and  their  bodies  to  be 
thrown  into  the  river. 

Mahomet  III.,  who  ascended  the 'throne  in  1596,  had  nineteen  brothers. 
These  he  caused  to  be  strangled,  so  that  they  might  not  rob  him  of  his  power. 
Amu  rath  the  Fourth  became  sultan  in  1621.  This  monster  caused  14,000 
men  to  be  murdered.  The  sport  that  pleased  him  best  was  to  run  about  the 
streets  at  night  with  a  drawn  sword,  cutting  and  slashing  at  everybody  whom 
he  met.  These  facts  will  show  the  reader  what  kind  of  government  the 
Turks  have  lived  under.  Mahmoud  the  Second  ascended  the  throne  in  1808. 
He  was  more  enlightened  than  his  predecessors.  But  he  was  compelled  to 
act  with  great  severity.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in  regard  to  the  Jani- 
zaries. These  were  a  large  body  of  troops,  established  by  Mahomet  the 
Second  in  1300,  and  who  continued  to  be  a  very  powerful  body  of  soldiers  for 
several  centuries.  Though  called  the  sultan's  guards,  they  became  more  dan- 
gerous than  all  the  other  subjects  of  the  empire.  Sultan  Mahmoud  therefore 
determined  to  free  himself  from  their  power.  Accordingly,  in  the  year  1826, 
he  ordered  the  rest  of  his  troops  to  surround  the  Janizaries.     This  was  done, 

and  they  were  shot  down 
and  massacred  without  mer- 
cy. The  sultan  afterward 
endeavored  to  reform  the 
manners  of  the  Turks,  and 
to  make  them  adopt  the  cus- 
toms of  other  European  na- 
tions. In  this  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  his  successors,  Ab- 
dul Medjid  and  Abdul  Aziz; 
but  the  progress  of  the  Turks 
-3^  in  this  direction  has  been 
%  very  slow. 

In  1854  Russia  threat- 
ened an  attack  on  Turkey, 
which  resulted  in  what  is 
called  the  Eastern  war,  one 
of  the  greatest  struggles 
which  the  world  has  wit- 
nessed since  the  fall  of  Na- 
ALEXANDER  I.  OF  BULGARIA.  polcon  at  Waterloo  in,  181 5. 

By  the  aid  of  France  and  England  Turkey  was  preserved  from  being  over, 
whelmed  by  Russia.  In  1877,  Russia  again  made  war  on  Turkey  and  took 
from  her  a  large  portion  of  her  territory  in  Europe  and  Asia.  Alexander  I., 
Prince  of  Bulgaria,   the  brother  of  the  late  Empress    of  Russia,  was  born 


DERVISHES. 


l391) 


392  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

April  5th,  in  the  year  1857,  and  served  with  the  Russian  army  during  the  war 
with  Turkey. 

Constantinople,  the  capital  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  contains  1,075,000  in- 
habitants, and  is  cunsequendy  the  third  large  city  in  Europe ;  330,000  of 
these  are  Christians  of  various  denominations. 

The  city  itself  is  built  on  hilly  ground  and,  with  its  numerous  gardens, 
cypresses,  mosques,  palaces,  minarets  and  towers,  presents  a  very  splendid 
appearance  as  seen  from  the  side  of  the  Golden  Horn,  a  branch  or  offset  of 
the  river  Bosphorus.  But  a  nearer  approach  reveals  the  characteristics  com- 
mon to  every  eastern  town  :  narrow,  crooked,  filthy  streets,  and  miserable 
houses  of  wood  and  clay  ;  although,  since  the  Crimean  war,  the  city  has  been 
greatly  improved  in  this  respect.  Great  fires,  which  took  place  in  1865,  1866 
and  1870,  swept  away  square  miles  of  old  wooden  houses  on  both  sides  of 
the  Golden  Horn,  and  on  these  spaces  handsome  stone  buildings  have  been 
erected  in  the  modern  European  style. 

Constantinople  contains  many  magnificent  buildings,  of  which  the  mosque 
of  Santa  Sophia,  the  grandest  ecclesiastical  building  in  the  Levant,  is  the  most 
attractive.  This  was  formerly  a  Christian  church,  and  is  built  in  the  form  of 
a  Greek  cross,  269  feet  long  by  243  broad,  with  a  flattened  dome  180  feet 
above  the  orfound.  Outside,  the  buildinor  is  colored  with  alternate  bands  of 
pale  red  and  yellow,  and  displays  little  of  the  magnificence  within,  where  rich, 
golden  mosaics,  porphyry  columns  supporting  figures  of  arabesque  patterns, 
metallic  ornaments,  richly-carpeted  floors  and  other  glittering  and  showy  dis- 
plays in  various  materials,  present  altogether  a  very  sumptuous  appearance. 
The  mosque  of  Sultan  Achmet  is  also  one  of  the  attractions  of  the  city.  It 
has  six  minarets,  each  with  two  galleries.  It  is  considered  the  finest  speci- 
men of  a  purely  Turkish  building  in  Constantinople. 

One  of  the  peculiar  sights  of  Constantinople  is  the  dancing  dervishes.  To 
see  thirty- four  of  these  strange  fanatics  of  different  sizes,  ages  and  degrees 
of  corpulence  whirling  about  in  a  sort  of  waltzing  step,  which  their  naked 
feet  perform  skilfully  to  the  sound  of  the  music  of  a  reed  flute,  is  certainly  a 
strange  exhibition,  particularly  when  one  reflects  that  it  is  all  done  in  the  in- 
terests of  religion.  The  howling  dervishes  have  their  habitation  across  the 
Bosphorus,  over  in  Scutari.  Here  the  process  consists  of  fierce  invocations, 
and  heard  in  the  midst  of  a  thick,  stifling  incense,  are  the  quaint,  wilde  jacula- 
tions  of  "  Oh,  Mediator  !  "  "  Oh,  Beloved  !  "  "  Oh,  Advocate  !  "  "  In  the  day 
of  judgment,"  etc.,  sounds  certainly  strange  enough,  and  much  unlike  the  per- 
formance of  human  beings ;  the  dervishes  at  length  howling  out  their  "La 
illah — illah  la  !  "  as  if  they  were  turning  into  wolves  ;  while  the  motion  of 
bending  and  gesticulating,  which  is  performed  to  music  at  the  same  time,  be- 
comes mechanical,  and  sometimes  almost  epileptic. 

The  Turkish  shopkeepers  all  sit  upon  their  platform-counters  robed  and 


TURKEY.  393 


tiirbaned,  looking  as  if  they  had  been  acting  stories  from  "The  Arabian 
Nights"  in  private  theatricals  the  night  before,  and  had  not  yet  had  time  to 
change  their  clothes.  They  are  always  sitting  cross-legged,  generally  smok- 
ing and  half-dozing.  Donkeys  pass  and  bump  up  against  the  door-post, 
thieves  run  by  pursued  by  angry  soldiers  with  drawn  and  flashing  sabres,  the 
"  Sick  Man  "  himself  rides  past,  sad  and  hopeless,  with  the  ambassador  at  his 
elbow ;  but  nothing  moves  the  calm,  self-possessed  shopkeeper,  in  his  white- 
and-green  turban. 

But  if  the  men  are  dull,  what  must  the  women  be?  Shut  up  in  a  harem, 
never  going  out  of  doors  unless  closely  veiled,  not  allowed  to  sweep  their 
own  floors  or  cook  their  own  dinners,  slaves  being  kept  for  all  such  purposes; 
having  no  religious  occupations,  no  books,  no  drawing,  no  music,  no  visitino- 
the  poor  or  teaching  in  schools ;  what  in  the  world  do  they  do  with  tiiem- 
selves  ? 

One  of  the  great  hindrances  to  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the 
women  was,  until  quite  lately,  the  constant  importation  of  Circassian  slaves. 
Instead  of  Turkish  gentlemen  intermarrying  with  the  daughters  of  families  in 
their  own  class,  an  influx  of  strange  wives  perpetually  took  place,  who  had 
no  fathers  and  brothers  on  the  spot  to  take  an  interest  in  their  welfare.  In 
Christian  civilization  the  intermarriage  of  families  is  the  great  cement  which 
binds  society  together,  causes  men  to  help  one  another,  and  to  love  and  pro- 
tect not  only  sons,  but  nephews,  cousins  and  daughters'  children.  When  a 
man  brings  a  strange  slave-wife,  none  of  this  takes  place ;  and,  though  an  im- 
perial firman  has  abolished  slavery  throughout  the  empire,  Circassian  pur- 
chases still  take  place. 

The  interior  of  Turkey  comprises  a  heterogeneous  population  of  different 
races.  Of  the  Turks  there  are  the  Osmanlis  and  Turkomans.  Then  there 
are  Sclavs,  Romans,  Arnauts,  Syrians,  Greeks,  Armenians,  Jews,  Arabs, 
Druses,  Gipsies,  Tartars,  Circassians,  Kopts,  Nubians,  Berbers,  etc.  Of  these 
the  Greeks  and  Armenians  are  traders.  The  Turkomans  and  Kurds  are 
herdsmen  and  nomads.  The  Sclavs,  Romans  and  Albanians  are  the  chief 
agriculturists  in  Europe,  and  the  Osmanlis,  Armenians,  Syrians  and  Druses 
in  Asia. 

Scutari,  which  is  across  the  Bosphorous  and  in  Asia,  was  the  locality  of  the 
hospitals  during  the  Crimean  war.  It  is  from  Scutari  that  the  caravans  depart 
for  the  desert.  Here  there  is  a  picturesque  object  called  Leander's  Tower, 
or,  by  some,  the  Maiden's  Tower,  which  has  a  legend  attached  to  it.  Accord- 
ing to  this  legend,  one  of  the  sultans  had  a  lovely  little  daughter,  of  whom  he 
was  so  fond  that  he  was  anxious  to  know  what  the  Fates  had  in  store  for  her 
in  the  future.  Through  the  intervention  of  astrology  the  child's  nativity  was 
cast;  and  the  reply  was,  that,  if  she  survived  her  sixteenth  birthday,  her  life 
would  be  long  and  happy.     But  she  must  beware  of  all  serpents.     The  sul- 


394 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


tan,  accordingly,  caused  a  tower  to  be  erected,  in  which  was  centred  every? 
thincr  that  could  be  procured  for  her  accommodation  and  dehght,  and  she  was 
placed  within  it,  not  to  leave  until  the  time  was  fully  passed. 

The  eventful  day  arrived,  the  fair  princess  was  dressed  handsomely,  await- 


CIRCASSIAN. 


ing  her  father's  coming,  who  was  to  release  his  child  from  the  prison  in  which 
paternal  love  had  immured  her.  She  was  looking  for  the  sultan  when  she 
perceived  a  small  basket,  covered  over  with  fresh  leaves,  standing  on  a  ledge 
which  surrounded  a  pretty  garden  that  had  been  contrived  for  her,  such  offer- 
ings being  common  among  people  who  felt  interested  in  her  fate.     With  girl- 


TURKEY. 


395 


ish  pleasure  she  ran  to  fetch  the  gift  and,  reaching-  it,  sat  down  to  examine  its 
contents.  When  the  suhan  came,  he  rushed  up,  surprised  at  not  being  met 
by  the  princess — and  found  her  evidendy  arrayed  for  the  occasion,  but  seem- 
ingly asleep.  He  called  to  her,  "My  child!"  No  answer.  An  asp  that 
dropped  from  the  basket  revealed  that  hers  was  the  sleep  of  death.  The  ser- 
pent had  been  concealed  among  the  flowers. 


A    SULTANA'S    BOUM. 


Not  to  Turkey  can  the  reader  look  for  aught  that  is  great  in  literature, 
science,  or  art.  In  military  courage  and  capacity  she  has  shown  herself  never 
to  have  been  deficient ;  but  when  we  have  said  this,  we  have  said  all.  Whilst 
the  other  countries  of  Europe  have  been  pressing  onward  in  civilization,  she 
has  remained  stationary,  indeed  rather  retrogressive  than  otherwise.  The 
barbaric  character  of  the  Oriental  has  been  manifest  throughout  all  her  his- 
tory.    Well  might  Byron  exclaim  : 

"  Know  ye  the  land  where  the  cypress  and  myrtle 

Are  emblems  of  deeds  that  are  done  in  their  clime? 
Where  the  rage  of  the  vulture,  the  love  of  the  turtle. 
Now  melt  into  sorrow,  now  madden  to  crime  ? 

'Tis  the  clime  of  the  East ;  'tis  the  land  of  the  sun- 
Can  he  smile  on  such  deeds  as  his  children  have  done  ? 
Oh  !  wild  as  the  accents  of  lovers'  farewell 
Are  the  hearts  which  they  bear,  and  the  tales  which  they  tell." 


REMAINS   OF   A    RUINED   TEMPLE  AT  CORINTH. 


GREECE. 


"  The  isles  of  Greece,  the  isles  of  Greece, 
Where  burning  Sappho  loved  and  sung ; 
Where  grew  the  arts  of  war  and  peace, 
Where  Delos  rose  and  PhcEbus  sprung ; 
Eternal  summer  gilds  them  yet, 
But  all,  except  their  sun,  is  set." 

(GREECE,  in  regard  to  its  situation  and  physical  features,  has  been 
^      marked  out  from  the  beginning  as  a  remarkable  land.     It  juts 
F^     out  into  the  sea,  so  as  to  command  easy  access  to  the  three  great 
continents,  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa. 

The  limits  of  ancient  Greece  were  much  more  extensive  than 
that  of  the  modern  kingdom.  The  ereatest  extent  of  the  Greek  main- 
land  from  north  to  south  is  litde  more  than  200  miles,  and  from  east  to 
west  only  165.  Including  the  numerous  islands  it  embraces,  the  total  area  of 
the  kingdom  is  19,945  square  miles.  It  is  divided  into  four  portions,  Northern 
Greece,  the  Morea,  the  Grecian  islands  and  the  Ionian  islands,  which  latter 
were  incorporated  with  the  Kingdom  of  Greece  in  1864.  The  first  is  that 
portion  which  lies  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Corinth.  The  surface  of  the  whole  is 
generally  mountainous.  The  climate  is  usually  warm  and  delightful ;  its  clear 
and  cloudless  sky  has  been  much  celebrated,  and  the  perfect  transparency  of 
the  atmosphere  helps  to  display  the  natural  objects  of  its  scenery  in  their 
highest  beaut)'. 

(396) 


GREECE.  3^ 

On  the  plains  near  the  coast  snow  is  seldom  seen,  and  the  winters  are 
mosdy  of  short  duration.  In  the  centre  of  the  Morea  snow  generally  lies  on 
the  ground  for  several  weeks.  For  a  few  weeks  in  February  the  rains  fall, 
after  which  time  spring  commences.  Early  in  March  the  vine  and  olives  bud, 
and  in  May  the  corn  is  reaped.  The  olive  is  distinguished  for  its  superior  ex- 
cellence, and  the  orange,  lemon,  citron,  fig,  banana  and  water-melon  afford  the 
richest  fruit. 

Bees  are  abundant  in  Greece,  and  the  produce  of  honey  is  very  great. 

The  Greek  nation  boasts  of  the  highest  antiquity;  the  cities  of  Argos, 
Thebes,  Athens,  Sparta  and  Corinth,  claim  to  have  been  founded  nearly  2000 
B.  c.  The  first  constitution  of  Greek  cities  is  beyond  the  reach  of  exact  his- 
tory, but  monarchy  seems  to  have  been  the  earliest  form. 

The  civil  polity  of  Sparta  and  Athens,  whose  governing  power  began  to 
lessen  the  influence  of  other  states,  was  most  successful  in  calling  forth  the 
public  energies,  and  making  small  means  produce  great  results.  The  prog- 
ress of  military  knowledge  and  of  the  more  refined  arts  was  contemporaneous 
with  that  of  politics.  Most  departments  of  science  and  the  fine  arts,  pursued 
with  impatient  zeal  by  the  highly  sensitive  Greeks,  were  carried  by  them  to  a 
higher  pitch  of  perfection  than  elsewhere  in  ancient  and,  in  some  respects,  in 
modern  times ;  and  their  commerce,  conducted  by  means  of  their  colonies  on 
the  Black  sea,  and  on  the  coasts  of  Italy,  Sicily  and  Gaul,  was  extensive  and 
important. 

In  literature,  in  science  and  in  art,  the  Greeks  surpassed  all  other  ancient 
peoples,  and  the  world  owes  them  a  debt  of  everlasting  gradtude.  All  our 
philosophical  and  scientific  terms  are  derived  from  the  Greek.  In  sculpture 
and  in  architecture  the  Greeks  are  our  masters.  Homer,  the  most  ancient,  as 
well  as  the  greatest  of  poets,  was  a  native  of  Greece.  The  subject  of  his 
great  poem,  the  "Iliad,"  was  the  anger  of  Achilles  during  a  period  of  the  Tro- 
jan war.  Troy  was  a  large  city  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Hellespont,  which  is 
now  called  the  Dardanelles.  Paris,  the  son  of  the  Trojan  king,  had  stolen 
away  the  wife  of  Menelaus,  a  Greek  prince. 

All  the  Grecian  kings  combined  together  to  punish  this  offence.  They 
sailed  to  Troy  in  1,200  vessels,  and  took  the  city  after  a  siege  of  ten  years. 
This  event  is  supposed  to  have  occurred  1,193  years  before  the  Christian 
era. 

The  measure  in  which  the  "  Iliad  "  is  composed  is  called  the  hexameter. 
In  order  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  this  measure,  as  it  appears  in  English, 
we  subjoin  a  translation  of  the  first  few  lines,  in  which  Homer  states  his  sub- 
ject— the  wrath  of  his  hero,  Achilles. 

Observe  the  Homeric  idea  of  man,  indicated  in  the  fourth  line,  where. 
after  the  souls  of  the  heroes  have  departed,  their  bodies  are  spoken  of  as  die 
heroes  themselves: 


398  THE  GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

"Wrath  of  Pelides,  O  Goddess,  sing  of  the  wrath  of  Achilles ; 
Wo  was  the  havoc  1  and  griefs  unnumbered  it  heaped  on  Achaians ; 
Yea,  full  many  the  stalwart  spirits  of  heroes  it  hurried 
Down  into  Hades,  allotting  themselves  for  a  prey  to  the  bandogs 
And  all  carrion  fowls  (but  the  purpose  of  Jove  was  aworking). 
E'en  from  the  time  when  at  first  these  twain  contended  and  quarrelled, 
King  among  men,  Atrides,  and  kin  to  the  Godhead,  Achilles." 

One  of  the  principal  states  of  Greece  was  called  Sparta  or  Lacedaemon. 
It  was  founded  by  Lele.x,  1516  b.  c.  It  had  a  code  of  laws  from  Lycurgus, 
who  lived  nearly  nine  centuries  before  Christ.  He  was  strict  and  severe,  but 
wise  and  upright. 

When  Lycurgus  had  completed  his  code  of  laws  he  left  Sparta.  Pre- 
vious to  his  departure  he  made  the  people  swear  that  they  would  violate  none 


of  the  laws  till  he  should  return.  But  he  was  resolved  never  to  return.  He 
committed  suicide  by  starving  himself  to  death  ;  and  his  remains  were  thrown 
into  the  sea  by  his  command,  so  that  the  Spartans  might  not  bring  back  his 
dead  body.  Thus,  as  Lycurgus  never  could  return,  the  Spartans  were  bound 
by  their  oath  to  keep  his  laws  forever. 

Athens  had  two  celebrated  lawgivers,  Draco  and  Solon.  The  laws  of 
Draco  were  so  extremely  severe  that  they  were  said  to  be  written  with  blood, 
instead  of  ink.  He  punished  even  the  smallest  offences  with  death.  His 
code  was  soon  abolished. 

About  five  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  Darius,  King  of  Persia,  in- 
vaded Greece  with  a  fleet  of  600  vessels  and  half  a  million  of  men.  He 
was,  however,  met  at  Marathon  by  10,000  Athenians,  under  Miltiades,  and  to- 
tally defeated.  Upon  gaining  the  victor)^  a  soldier  ran  to  carry  the  news  to 
his  countrymen  at  Athens,  and  so  exhausted  did  he  become  upon  his  arrival 


GREECE.  399 

there,  that  he  could  only  shout  "  The  victory  is  ours ! "  when  he  fell  down 
dead.  Subsequently  the  Persian  monarch,  Xerxes,  invaded  Greece  with  nearly 
two  millions  of  men  on  land,  and  more  than  half  a  million  on  board  his  fleet. 

When  Xerxes  arrived  in  Greece,  it  so  happened  that  a  great  mountain, 
called  Mount  Athos,  stood  direcdy  in  the  way  that  he  wished  his  ships  to  sail. 
He  therefore  wrote  a  letter  to  the  mountain,  commanding  it  to  get  out  of  the 
way ;  but  Mount  Athos  would  not  stir  one  step. 

In  order  to  bring  his  land  forces  from  Asia  into  Greece,  Xerxes  built  a 
bridge  of  boats  across  a  part  of  the  sea  called  the  Hellespont.  But  the 
waves  broke  the  bridge  to  pieces,  and  Xerxes  commanded  the  sea  to  be 
whipped  for  its  disrespectful  conduct. 

The  greater  part  of  the  cities  of  Greece  submitted  to  Xerxes  ;  but  Sparta 
and  Athens  made  a  stubborn  resistance.  Though  they  could  muster  but  few 
soldiers,  these  were  far  more  valiant  than  the  Persians.  One  Spartan,  who  was 
told  that  the  Persian  arrows  darkened  the  sun  (in  allusion  to  their  vast  num- 
bers), replied,  "Then  we  will  fight  in  the  shade." 

At  Thermopylae,  Xerxes  wished  to  lead  his  army  through  a  narrow  pas- 
sage between  a  mountain  and  the  sea.  Leonidas,  King  of  Sparta,  opposed 
him  with  6,000  men.  Seventy  thousand  Persians  were  slain  in  the  attempt  to 
break  through  the  pass.  At  last,  Leonidas  found  that  the  Persians  could  not 
be  kept  back  any  longer.  He  therefore  sent  away  all  but  300  men,  and  with 
these  he  remained  at  the  pass  of  Thermopylae.  The  immense  host  of  the 
Persians  came  onward  like  a  flood ;  and  only  one  soldier  of  the  300  Spartans 
escaped  to  tell  that  the  rest  were  slain. 

But  Xerxes  did  not  long  continue  to  triumph  in  Greece.  His  fleet  was  de- 
feated at  Salamis,  and  his  army  at  Plataea.  In  escaping,  he  was  forced  to 
cross  the  Hellespont  in  a  litde  fishing-vessel ;  for  the  sea,  in  spite  of  its  being 
whipped,  had  again  broken  his  bridge  of  boats. 

After  the  Persian  war,  Cimon,  Aristides  and  Pericles  were  the  three  prin- 
cipal men  of  Athens.  Pericles  at  length  became  the  chief  person  in  the  re- 
public. Athens  was  never  more  flourishing  than  while  he  was  at  the  head  of 
the  government.  He  adorned  the  city  with  magnificent  edifices,  and  rendered 
it  famous  for  learning,  poetr>'  and  beautiful  works  of  art,  such  as  temples, 
statues  and  paintings.  But  the  Athenians  were  fickle,  and  generally  ungrate- 
ful to  their  public  benefactors ;  and  they  sometimes  ill  treated  Pericles. 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  administration,  a  terrible  plague  broke  out  in 
Athens.  Many  of  the  citizens  fell  down  and  died  while  passing  through  the 
streets.     Dead  bodies  lay  in  heaps,  one  upon  another. 

The  illustrious  Pericles  was  one  of  the  victims  of  this  pestilence.  When 
he  lay  at  the  point  of  death,  his  friends  praised  him  for  the  glorious  deeds 
,.jvhich  he  had  achieved.  "It  is  my  greatest  glorj-,"  replied  Pericles,  "that 
none  of  my  acts  have  caused  a  citizen  of  Athens  to  put  on  mourning 


400  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

Three  years  before  the  death  of  Pericles,  a  war  had  commenced  between 
Athens  and  Sparta.  These  were  now  the  two  principal  states  of  Greece, 
and  they  had  become  jealous  of  each  other's  greatness.  A  fierce  war  fol- 
lowed, in  which  all  the  states  of  that  part  of  Greece  called  Peloponnesus 
were  enfao-ed.     This  bloody  strife  lasted  twenty-eight  years. 

In  the  course  of  this  war,  Alcibiades  made  a  conspicuous  figure  among 
the  Athenians.  He  was  the  handsomest  and  most  agreeable  man  in  Athens. 
At  one  period  he  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  people,  and  possessed  almost 
unlimited  power.     But  he  was  ambitious  and  destitute  of  principle. 

Not  long  after  this  Thebes  became  for  a  brief  period  the  most  distin- 
o-uished  city  in  Greece.  For  this  it  was  indebted  to  its  able  generals,  Pelopi- 
das  and  Epaminondas.  Epaminondas  was  one  of  the  best  men  that  lived  in 
ancient  times.  His  private  virtues  were  equal  to  his  patriotism  and  valor.  It 
is  said  of  him  that  a  falsehood  was  never  known  to  come  from  his  lips — one 
of  the  highest  praises  that  can  be  bestowed  on  any  man. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Theban  war  Greece  was  conquered  by 
Philip,  King  of  Macedon.  Thenceforward,  Philip  controlled  the  affairs  of 
Greece  till  his  death.  Perhaps,  after  all,  he  was  a  better  ruler  than  the 
Greeks  could  have  found  among  themselves. 

But  he  had  many  vices,  and  among  the  rest  that  of  drinking  to  excess. 
One  day,  just  after  he  had  risen  from  a  banquet,  he  decided  a  certain  law-case- 
unjustly.     The  losing  person  cried  out,  "  I  appeal  from  Philip  drunk,  to  Philip 
sober !  "     And,  sure  enough,  when  Philip  got  sober,  he  decided  the  other  way. 

A  poor  woman,  who  had  some  business  with  Philip,  tried  in  vain  to  obtain 
an  audience.  He  put  her  off  from  one  day  to  another,  saying  that  he  had  no 
leisure  to  attend  to  her.  "  If  you  have  no  leisure  to  do  justice,  you  have  no 
right  to  be  king !  "  said  the  woman.  Philip  was  struck  with  the  truth  of  what 
the  woman  said,  and  he  became  more  attentive  to  the  duties  of  a  king. 

Philip  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Alexander  the  Great,  who  became  king 
at  the  age  of  twenty.  Alexander  subdued  the  Grecian  states  in  the  course 
of  one  campaign.  He  was  then  declared  generalissimo  of  the  Greeks,  and 
undertook  a  war  against  Persia.  The  army  which  he  led  against  that  country 
consisted  of  35,000  men. 

He  crossed  the  Hellespont  and  marched  through  Asia  Minor  toward  Per- 
sia. Before  reaching  its  borders  he  was  met  by  the  Persian  king,  Darius, 
who  had  collected  an  immense  army.  Alexander  defeated  him,  and  killed 
1 10,000  of  his  soldiers. 

He  then  marched  to  Persepolis;  the  capital  of  Persia,  and  burnt  it  to  the 
ground.  When  Persia  was  completely  subdued,  Alexander  invaded  India, 
now  HIndostan.  One  of  the  kings  of  that  country  was  named  Porus.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  seven  feet  and  a  half  in  height.  This  gigantic  king  led  a 
great  army  against  Alexander.     Porus  was  well  provided  with  elephants,  which 


GREECE.  4Q1 

had  been  trained  to  rush  upon  the  enemy,  and  trample  them  down.  Alexan- 
der had  no  elephants,  but  his  usual  good  fortune  did  not  desert  him.  The 
army  of  Porus  was  routed,  and  he  himself  was  taken  prisoner  and  loaded  with 
chains. 

In  this  degraded  condition  the  Indian  king  was  brought  into  the  victor's 
tent.  Alexander  gazed  with  wonder  at  the  enormous  stature  of  Porus. 
Although  a  great  conqueror,  he  was  himself  only  of  middle  size.  "  How  shall 
I  treat  you  ?  "  asked  Alexander  of  his  prisoner.  "  Like  a  king !  "  said  Porus. 
The  answer  led  Alexander  to  reflect  how  he  himself  should  like  to  be  treated, 
had  he  been  in  a  similar  situation  ;  and  he  was  induced  to  behave  generously 
to  Porus. 

Alexander  the  Great  was  destined  to  owe  his  destruction  to  the  wine-cup. 
While  drinking  at  a  banquet  in  Babylon,  he  was  suddenly  taken  sick,  and 
death  soon  conquered  the  conqueror. 

The  Greeks,  when  they  heard  of  Alexander's  death,  had  attempted  to 
regain  their  liberty.  But  their  struggles  were  unsuccessful,  and  the  country 
was  reduced  to  subjection  by  Cassander,  who  had  been  general  of  Alexander's 
cavalry.  Cassander  died  in  a  few  years.  Thenceforward,  the  history  of 
Greece  tells  of  nothing  but  crimes  and  revolutions  and  misfortunes. 

A  high  place  in  the  annals  of  the  world  will  always  be  accorded  to  the 
Greek  philosophers.  Between  six  and  seven  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era  there  were  seven  philosophers,  who  were  called  the  "Seven 
Wise  Men  of  Greece  ;  "  the  philosopher  Thales  being  considered  the  wisest  of 
them  all. 

One  night,  while  this  great  philosopher  was  taking  a  walk,  he  looked 
upward  to  contemplate  the  stars.  Being  much  interested  in  this  occupation, 
he  strayed  out  of  his  path  and  tumbled  into  a  ditch.  An  old  woman  who 
lived  in  his  family  ran  and  helped  him  out,  all  covered  with  mud.  "For  the 
future,  Thales,"  said  she,  "I  advise  you  not  to  have  your  head  among  the 
stars,  while  your  feet  are  on  the  earth  !  "  Some  people  think  that  the  old 
woman  was  the  wiser  philosopher  of  the  two. 

The  philosopher  Pythagoras  believed  that,  when  people  died,  their  souls 
migrated  into  the  boches  of  animals  or  birds.  He  affirmed  that  his  own  soul 
had  once  lived  in  the  body  of  a  peacock. 

Socrates  was  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  philosophers  of  Greece.  Indeed 
he  was  so  wise  and  good,  that  the  profligate  Athenians  could  not  suffer  him  to 
live.     They  therefore  compelled  him  to  drink  poison. 

Plato  was  born  429  years  b.  c,  and  was  for  eight  years  the  pupil  of  Soc- 
rates. Indeed  he  was  that  great  philosopher's  constant  companion  until  the 
day  of  his  death.  He  had  now  no  ties  to  bind  him  to  Athens — perhaps, 
indeed,  he  did  not  feel  secure  there — and  he  went  to  live  at  Megara  with  his 
friend  Euclid.     Then  he  set  out  upon  those  travels  of  which  we  hear  so  much 

26 


402 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


Pl-ATO. 


He  was  called  Diogenes 


and  know  so  little;  "and,"  says  an  old  historian,  "  whilst  studious  youth  were 
crowding-  to  Athens  from  every  quarter  in  search  of  Plato  for  their  master, 

that  philosopher  was  wandering  along  the  banks  of 
the  Nile  or  the  vast  plains  of  a  barbarous  country, 
himself  a  disciple  of  the  old  men  of  Egypt."  After 
storing  his  mind  with  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians, 
Plato  is  said  to  have  gone  on  to  Palestine  and 
Phoenicia — to  have  reached  China  disguised  as  an 
oil  merchant — to  have  had  the  "Unknown  God" 
revealed  to  him  by  Jewish  rabbis — and  to  have 
learned  the  secrets  of  the  stars  from  Chaldean  as- 
tronomers. 

Aristotle  was  called  by  Plato  "  the  Mind  of  the 
School,"  in  recognition  of  his  quick  and  powerful 
intelligence.  In  order  to  win  time,  even  from  sleep,  Aristotle  is  said  to  have 
invented  a  plan  of  sleeping,  with  a  ball  in  his  hand,  so  held  over  a  brazen  dish 
that  whenever  his  grasp  relaxed  the  ball  would  descend  with  a  clang  and 
arouse  him  to  the  resumption  of  his  labors. 

Diogenes  was  the  queerest  philosopher  of  all. 
the  Doof,  either  because  he  lived  like  a  dog,  or 
because  he  had  a  currish  habit  of  snarling  at  every- 
body. His  doctrine  was,  that  the  fewer  enjoyments 
a  man  had  the  happier  he  was  likely  to  be.  This 
philosopher  went  about  bare-footed,  dressed  in 
very  shabby  clothes,  and  carrying  a  bag,  a  jug, 
and  a  staff.  He  afterward  got  a  great  tub,  which 
he  used  to  lug  about  with  him  all  day  long,  and 
sleep  in  at  night. 

One  day  Alexander  the  Great  came  to  see 
Diogenes,  and  found  him  mending  his  tub.  It 
happened  that  Alexander  stood  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  shade  Diogenes  from  the  sun,  and  he  felt 
cold.  "  Diogenes,"  said  Alexander,  "  you  must  have  a  very  hard  time  of  it, 
living  in  a  tub.  Can  I  do  anything  to  better  your  condition  ? "  "  Nothing, 
except  to  get  out  of  my  sunshine,"  replied  Diogenes,  who  disdained  to  accept 
any  other  favor  from  the  greatest  monarch  in  the  world. 

But  not  alone  in  epic  poetry  and  philosophy  did  the  Greeks  attain  great- 
ness. In  the  drama  the  names  of  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles  and  Euripides  are 
supreme.  The  Greek  orator  Demosthenes  has  never  been  equalled,  and  in 
sculpture  and  architecture  Phidias  and  Praxiteles  are  beyond  all  comparison. 

We  will  now  treat  of  Greece  as  she  exists  in  our  own  day.  The  present 
government  of  Greece  is  a   constitutional  and  hereditary   monarchy.     The 


ARISTOTLE. 


GREECE. 


403 


legislative  power,  since  1864,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  king  and  the  chamber  of 
deputies.  The  person  of  the  king  is  inviolable  ;  his  ministers  are  responsible. 
The  right  to  vote  begins  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  at  thirty  the  electors 
are  eligible  for  election.  The 
deputies  are  chosen  for  four 
years,  but  the  senators  are  ap- 
pointed for  life  by  the  king. 
They  must,  however,  have  at- 
tained the  age  of  forty.  The 
population  of  Greece,  including 
the  Ionian  islands,  is  1,457,894. 
That  of  Athens,  with  its  harbor, 
Piraeus,  is  50,798.  The  army 
amounts  to  31,300  men,  viz., 
14,300  regular  troops,  and  17,- 
000  irregular.  Navy :  34  vessels, 
164  cannon,  and  1,340  men. 

King  George  I.  (Christian 
William  Ferdinand  Adolphus 
George)  is  the  second  son  of 
the  Kino-  of  Denmark  and 
brother  of  the  Princess  of 
Wales.  He  was  born  December  24th,  1845,  ^"d  served  for  some  time  in  the 
Danish  navy.  He  was  married  at  St.  Petersburg  to  the  Princess  Olga,  diugh- 
ter  of  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  October  27th,  1867.  The  Princess  Olga 
was  born  September  3d,  1851. 

During  the  year  1877,  when  Russia  had  taken  up  the  cause  of  Servia  and 
Bulgaria  against  Turkey,  the  Greeks  also  took  up  arms  for  the  purpose  of 
annexing  those  territories  which  contained  Greek  population,  but  were  gov- 
erned by  Turkey.  The  European  powers  urged  Greece  not  to  take  part  in 
the  conflict,  and,  as  a  reward  of  their  neutrality,  they  guaranteed  her  the  pos- 
session of  those  territories  which  the  Greeks  coveted ;  a  promise  which  was 
not  kept.  The  Greeks  otherwise  might  have  been  masters  of  a  great  part  of 
Epirus,  and  of  Thessaly,  and  of  the  island  of  Crete. 

Travellers  generally  land  at  Piraeus,  the  port  of  Athens,  which  is  about 
six  miles  distant,  and  proceed  at  once  to  the  city.  A  litde  west  of  Piraeus, 
near  the  sea-shore,  the  throne  of  Xerxes  was  erected,  that  he  might  watch  the 
progress  of  the  battle  of  Salamis.  Here  he  sat  and  saw  the  defeat  of  his  fleet. 
The  macadamized  road  to  Athens  follows  the  line  of  the  most  eastern  of  the 
long  walls  erected  by  Themistocles,  remains  of  which  are  still  visible.  Smce 
January,  1869,  a  railroad  has  been  opened  from  Piraeus  to  Athens,  which  is  the 
first  ever  constructed  on  the  soil  of  Greece. 


FORGE  1. 


404  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

The  city  of  Athens  owes  its  celebrity  entirely  to  its  ancient  greatness  and 
the  numerous  remains  of  its  former  works  of  art.  The  modern  city  presents 
very  little  of  interest.  The  surrounding  scenery  is  lovely,  and  the  climate  de- 
lightful, but  the  streets  are  narrow  and  winding,  with  mean  and  badly-built 
houses. 

The  Acropolis,  or  citadel,  crowns  the  summit  of  a  rocky  hill,  which  rises 
abruptly  out  of  the  plain  in  the  midst  of  the  city.  It  has  been  a  fortress  from 
the  earliest  ages ;  it  rises  150  feet.  The  walls,  which  are  built  on  the  edge 
of  the  perpendicular  rock,  form  a  circuit  of  nearly  7,000  feet.  They  are  of 
great  antiquity,  and  were  built  pardy  by  the  Pelagians,  by  Themistocles  and 
Cymon,  by  Valerian,  and  latterly  by  the  Turks  and  Venetians. 

A  short  distance  to  the  west  of  this  is  the  Areopagus,  or  Mars'  Hill,  of  still 
greater  interest  to  the  Christian  student,  as  the  spot  from  which  the  apostle  Paul 


VIEW   OF  CRETE. 

addressed  the  assembled  multitude  of  ancient  Athens.  On  the  eastern  end 
was  situated  the  celebrated  Court  of  the  Areopagas,  the  highest  judicial  court 
of  Athens,  whose  existence  is  dated  from  the  time  of  Cecrops,  about  1500  b.  c. 

Corinth  was  founded  1900  years  b.  c,  and  was  one  of  the  most  opulent 
cities  of  ancient  Greece.  Her  peculiar  position  on  the  isthmus  rendered  her 
the  commercial  centre  between  Europe  and  Asia,  and  the  sources  of  her 
wealth  and  power  were  increased  by  the  Isthmian  games,  which  took  place  in 
the  neighborhood  every  three  years.  In  224  b.  c.  she  joined  the  Achaean 
League,  and  became  the  seat  of  the  assemblies  of  that  confederation. 

It  is  now  a  miserable  and  thinly-populated  village.  The  only  ruins  of  an- 
tiquity are  those  of  the  temple,  situated  west  of  the  modern  village.  Seven 
columns  still  remain,  five  looking  west,  and  three  toward  the  south  (the  col- 
umn forming  the  angle  being  twice  counted).  Five  have  their  entablature 
still  resting  upon  them,  forming  the  angle  of  the  building.     The  columns  are 


GREECE. 


405 


of  the  Doric  order,  but  heavy  and  ill-proportioned  ;  they  are  five  feet  ten  inches 
in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  are  formed  of  limestone  covered  with  stucco. 
Their  appearance  proves  them  to  be  anterior  to  the  temple  of  Egina,  or  to  the 
temple  of  Theseus,  at  Athens.  It  is  uncertain  to  what  divinity  this  buiklinir 
was  consecrated;  some  think  to  Fortune,  others  to  Minerva.  Our  artist  has 
given  a  faithful  representation  of  this  temple  on  page  396. 

Missolonghi  has  been  immortalized  by  events  which  occurred  during  the 
War  of  Independence.  Here,  in  1822,  Mavrocordato,  with  500  men,  sustained 
a  siege  of  two  months  against  a  Turkish  force  of  14,000,  commanded  by  Omar 
ben  Vrioni.  In  1825  it  was  again  besieged  by  the  Ottoman  army,  and  held 
out  for  a  year  against  the  repeated  assaults  of  an  immensely  superior  force. 
In  April,  1826,  the  besieged  determined  to  cut  their  way  through  the  ranks 


ACROPOLIS    AT    ATHENS. 

of  their  opponents  and  escape.  Placing  the  women  in  their  centre,  dressed  as 
men,  they  sallied  forth,  but  the  enemy  had  become  aware  of  their  intention, 
and  but  2,000  escaped.  The  remainder  determined  to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly 
as  possible,  and  allured  the  Turks  into  the  neighborhood  of  the  powder  maga- 
zine, when  the  whole  exploded,  burying  conqueror  and  conquered  in  a  com- 
mon tomb.     Lord  Byron  died  at  Missolonghi  in  1824. 

The  Greek,  after  having  been  for  centuries  governed  and  oppressed  by 
the  Turk,  has  now  an  independent  country  of  his  own,  and  it  rests  with  him- 
self to  prove  whether  he  is  worth  all  the  passionate  sympathy  which  has  been 
expended  upon  him  by  many  of  his  English  friends,  of  whom  the  most  cele- 
brated has  been  Lord  Byron.     The  population  of  his  small  country  is  pardy 


406  GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Albanian,  partly  Hellenic.  The  Albanians  come  from  the  north,  and  are 
of  Sclave  race ;  the  Hellenes  are  the  real  descendants  of  the  ancient  Greeks, 
and  may  be  divided  into  two  bodies — the  Pallicares,  or  people  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  Phanariotes,  or  commercial  Greeks,  who  flocked  home  from 
Constantinople  as  soon  as  their  country  was  independent. 

The  Greek  people  are  exceedingly  pious  ;  they  are  not  Roman  Catholics, 
but  belong  to  the  Greek  Church,  of  which  there  are  four  patriarchs,  namely: 
of  Constantinople,  Jerusalem,  Antioch  and  Alexandria.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Greece  are  under  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who  has, 
however,  accorded  them  a  certain  local  independence  in  the  management  of 
their  church  affairs.  The  archbishops  and  bishops  are  paid  by  the  state,  and 
by  certain  dues  ;  but  the  lower  clergy  are  exclusively  supported  by  the  fees 
paid  for  baptisms,  marriages,  burials,  etc.,  and  if  this  is  not  enough  they  farm 
land  and  even  keep  shops.  They  are  married  men  for  the  most  part,  and 
with  families,  and  as  their  churches  are  not  endowed,  like  those  of  the  English 
clergy,  they  are  obliged  to  provide  for  their  own  livelihood  as  best  they  can. 
The  number  of  small  churches  is  immense.  It  is  considered  an  act  of  piety  to 
build  one,  and  of  sacrilege  to  cause  one  to  be  taken  down.  In  Athens  and 
its  neighborhood  there  are  more  than  three  hundred,  of  which  only  five  or  six 
are  really  in  good  working  order.  The  rest  are  small  chapels,  only  used  for 
service  at  rare  intervals,  but  none  of  them  are  wholly  shut  up. 

An  odd  relic  of  paganism  exists  at  Athens.  There  is  one  column  stand- 
ing of  an  ancient  temple  of  ^'Esculapius.  When  a  friend  or  child  is  sick,  the 
people  sometimes  take  a  hair  from  his  head,  or  a  thread  from  one  of  his  gar- 
ters, and  attach  the  two  ends  with  wax  to  this  pillar,  expecting  that  the  invalid 
will  derive  benefit  from  this  extraordinary  operation. 


THE   PYRAMIDS. 


EGYPT. 


6  UT  of  the  mists  that  surround  the  earliest  ages  the  civilization  of 

-^™.    ,S)      Egypt  looms,  like  its  mighty  pyramids,  that  look  down  upon  the 

j.'\t::)f^7.      people  of  to-day.     Go  back  as  far  as  you  will,  you  cannot  find  a 

time  when  the  Egyptians  were  not  civilized. 

V^  '  This  most    interesting  of  lands   occupies   the   north-eastern 

S^     corner  of  the  African  continent.     The  waters  of  the    Mediterranean 

form  the  northern  limit  of  its  soil.     Upon  the  south  it  is  bounded  by 

Nubia,  upon  the  east  and  west  by  the  Red  sea  and  the  Libyan  desert.     The 

lowest  of  the  Nile  cataracts  marks  the  frontier  between  Egypt  and  Nubia, 

where  the  modern  town  of  Assouan  stands  beside  the  river's  bank,  and  the 

foaming  waters  hurry  past  the   temple-covered  islands  of  Elephantine  and 

Philc-e.     From  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  to  the  first  cataract,  the  valley 

of  the   Nile  measures,  in  a  direct  line  from   north  to  south,  an  extent  of  550 

miles.     The  Nile  runs  through  the  midst  of  Egypt,  from  the  south  to  the 

north.     This  river  overflows  its  banks  once  a  year,  and  thus  fertilizes  the 

country,  for  it  very  seldom  rains  in  Egypt. 

The  river  begins  to  rise  about  the  end  of  June,  and  continues  rising  until 

the  first  of  October,  at  which  time  the  traveller  may  have  the  opportunity  of 

witnessing  the  singular  appearance  of  the  country.     It  then  remams  stationary 

a  few  days,  and  afterward  crradually  retires  to  its  proper  bed.     At  this  period 
•^  ''  (407) 


408  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

of  the  year  the  Nile  waters  are  charged  with  a  thick  sediment,  a  portion  of 
which  is  left  as  a  deposit  upon  the  soil,  to  which  it  imparts  the  most  fertilizing 
properties. 

The  rise  of  the  Nile  is  due  to  the  periodical  rains  of  Abyssinia  and  the 
countries  farther  south,  whence  the  river  derives  its  waters,  and  upon  the 
greater  or  lesser  quantity  of  which  the  height  of  the  inundadon  depends. 
The  changes  in  its  color  are  in  the  highest  degree  curious  during  the  inunda- 
tion. The  waters  are  of  a  greenish  hue ;  they  afterward  change  to  a  deep 
brownish-red,  closely  resembling  the  appearance  of  blood,  and  again  become 
clear  after  subsiding  into  their  ordinary  channel. 

According  to  Josephus,  Menes  was  the  first  king  of  Egypt.  He  ascended 
the  throne  2,320  years  before  Christ,  or  4,207  years  ago.  The  origin,  how- 
ever, of  the  Egyptian  nation,  and  the  history  of  their  kings,  are  involved  in 
the  greatest  obscurity  and  uncertainty.  About  200  years  later  Saophis  built 
the  Great  Pyramid,  and  forty  years  after  Sen-Saophis  built  the  Second  Pyramid. 

The  pyramids  seem  equally  large  at  a  distance  of  six  miles  as  at  one.  Ar- 
rived at  the  base  of  the  great  Pyramid  of  Cheops,  and  seeing  the  enormous 
size  of  the  masses  of  stone  of  which  it  is  composed,  the  sense  of  awe  pro- 
duced by  these  edifices  is  still  further  increased. 

Cheops,  or  the  Great  Pyramid,  stands  farthest  north,  and  is  the  one  usually 
ascended  and  entered  by  travellers.  It  is  780  feet  high,  rising  from  a  base 
which  measures  764  feet  each  way,  and  which  covers  eleven  acres  of  ground! 
It  is  estimated  that  Cheops  had  employed  100,000  men  for  ten  years  to  make 
the  causeway  from  the  Nile  to  the  pyramid  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  the 
stone,  and  360,000  men  twenty  years  to  build  the  monument! 

The  Second  Pyramid  was  built  by  Sen-Saophis,  son  of  Cheops  or  Saophis, 
2,083  yeai's  B.  c.  Its  base  is  690  feet  square  and  447  high.  It  was  first  opened, 
in  the  year  1200,  by  the  Sultan  El-Aziz  Othman,  son  of  Saladin. 

The  Third  Pyramid,  built  by  Mencheres,  B.  c.  2040,  is  333  feet  square  at 
the  base,  and  203  feet  high. 

A  short  distance  from  the  pyramids  is  the  Sphinx — as  much  greater  than 
all  other  sphinxes  as  the  pyramids  are  greater  than  all  other  tombs.  It  is 
now  so  covered  with  sand  that  only  the  human  part — the  head  and  body — is 
visible.  The  whole  figure  is  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock  with  the  exception  of 
the  fore-pa\ys,  and  worked  smooth.  The  cap,  or  royal  helmet  of  Egypt,  has 
been  removed,  but  the  shape  of  the  top  of  the  head  explains  how  it  was  ar- 
ranged. The  Sphinx  was  a  local  deity  of  the  Egyptians,  and  was  treated  by  all 
in  former  times  with  divine  honors.  Immediately  under  his  breast  an  altar 
stood,  and  the  smoke  of  the  sacrifice  went  up  into  the  gigandc  nostrils,  now 
vanished  from  his  face.  The  size  of  the  Sphinx,  as  given  by  Pliny,  is,  height, 
143  feet;  circumference  round  the  forehead,  102  feet.  The  paws  of  the  leo- 
nine part  extended  50  feet  in  front. 


EGYPT.  409 

It  is  generally  understood  that  sphinxes  were  the  giant  representatives 
and  guards  of  royalty.  How  appropriate  a  guard  this  Sphinx  of  sphinxes  is 
to  these  tombs  of  tombs!  Though  mutilated  and  defaced,  the  lonely  Sphinx 
still  possesses  a  strange  and  weird  beauty. 

"Comely  the  creature  is,  but  the  comeliness  is  not  of  this  world.  The 
beast  once  worshipped  is  a  deformity  and  a  monster  to  this  generation  ;  and 
yet  you  can  see  that  those  lips,  so  thick  and  heavy,  were  fashioned  according 
to  some  ancient  mode  of  beauty,  some  mode  of  beauty  now  foraotten for- 
gotten because  Greece  drew  forth  Cytherea  from  the  flashing  foam  of  the 
^gean,  and  in  her  image  created  new  forms  of  beauty,  and  made  it  a  law 
among  men  that  the  short  and  proudly-wreathed  lip  should  stand  for  the  sicrn 
and  main  condition  of  loveliness  through  all  generations  to  come.  Yet  still 
there  lives  on  the  race  of  those  who  were  beautiful  in  the  fashion  of  the  elder 
world,  and  Christian  girls  of  Coptic  blood  will  look. on  you  with  the  sad, 
serious  gaze,  and  kiss  your  charitable  hand  with  the  big  pouting  lips  of  the 
very  Sphinx. 

"  Laugh  and  mock  if  you  will  at  the  worship  of  stone  idols,  but  mark  ye 
this,  ye  breakers  of  images,  that  in  one  regard  the  stone  idol  bears  awful  sem- 
blanceof  Deity — unchangefulness  in  the  midst  of  change — the  same  seeing, 
will,  and  intent,  forever  and  ever  inexorable!  Upon  ancient  dynasties  of 
Ethiopian  and  Egyptian  kings ;  upon  Greek  and  Roman,  upon  Arab  and  Ot- 
toman conquerors  ;  upon  Napoleon,  dreaming  of  an  Eastern  empire ;  upon 
battle  and  pestilence  ;  upon  the  ceaseless  misery  of  the  Egyptian  race  ;  upon 
keen-eyed  travellers,  Herodotus  yesterday  and  Warburton  to-day ;  upon  all 
and  more,  this  unworldly  Sphinx  has  watched  and  watched,  like  a  providence, 
with  the  same  earnest  eyes  and  the  same  sad,  tranquil  mien  :  and  we  shall  die, 
and  Islam  shall  wither  away,  and  still  that  sleepless  rock  will  lie  watching  and 
watching  the  works  of  a  new,  busy  race  with  those  same,  sad,  earnest  eyes,  and 
the  same  tranquil  mien  everlasting.      You  dare  not  mock  at  the  Sphinx." 

At  the  time  when  they  constructed  these  marvellous  works,  the  ancient 
Egyptians  possessed  more  learning  and  science  than  any  other  people.  Their 
superior  knowledge  caused  them  to  be  looked  upon  as  magicians  by  the 
people  of  other  countries. 

The  Egyptians  had,  indeed,  many  absurd  superstitions.  Their  chief  god- 
dess was  Isis,  and  another  deity  was  Osiris.  Of  these  they  made  strange 
images,  and  worshipped  them.  Isis  was  gready  reverenced,  and  the  people 
dedicated  many  splendid  temples  to  her  worship. 

An  Ethiopian  woman,  named  Nitocris,  became  Queen  of  Egypt  in  the  year 
1678  before  the  Christian  era.  Her  brother  had  been  murdered  by  the 
Egypdans,  and  she  resolved  to  avenge  him.  For  this  purpose  Queen  Nitocris 
built  a  palace  underground,  and  invited  the  murderers  of  her  brother  to  a  ban- 
quet.    The  subterranean  hall,  where  the  banquet  was  prepared,  was  brilliandy 


410 


THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


illuminated  with  torches.     The  guests  were  the  principal  men  in  the  kinL^dom. 
The  scene  was  magnificent,  as  they  sat  feasting  along  the  table.     But  suddenly 

a    rushinof    and    roarine 

r 


sound  was  heard  over- 
head, and  a  deluge  of 
water  burst  into  the 
hall.  Queen  Nitocris 
had  caused  a  river  to 
flow  through  a  secret 
passage,  and  it  extin- 
o^uished  the  torches  and 
drowned  all  the  company 
at  the  banquet. 

The  most  renowned 
monarch  that  reigned 
over  Egypt  was  Sesos- 
tris,  who  is  also  called 
Rameses,  The  date  of 
his  reign  is  not  pre- 
cisely known,  but    there 


EXTERIOR   OF  TEMPLE   OF    ISIS. 


are  carvings  in  stone,  lately  found  in  Egypt,  which  are  more  than  three 
thousand  years  old,  and  supposed  to  present  portraits  of  him.  They  are, 
doubdess,  the  oldest  portraits  in  existence.  This  king  formed  the  design 
of  conquering  the  world,  and  set  out  from  Egypt  with  more  than  half  a  million 
of  foot-soldiers,  twenty-four  thousand  horsemen,  and  twenty-seven  thousand 
armed  chariots.  His  ambitious  projects  were  partially  successful.  He  made 
great  conquests,  and  wherever  he  went  he  caused  marble  pillars  to  be  erected 
with  inscriptions  on  them,  so  that  future  ages  might  not  forget  his  renown. 

When  Sesostris  went  to  worship  in  the  temple,  he  rode  in  a  chariot  which 
was  drawn  by  captive  kings.  They  were  harnessed  like  horses,  four  abreast; 
and  their  royal  robes  trailed  in  the  dust  as  they  tugged  the  heavy  chariot 
along.  But  at  length  the  proud  Sesostris  grew  old  and  blind.  He  could  no 
longer  look  around  him  and  see  captive  kings  drawing  his  chariot,  or  kneeling 
at  his  footstool.     He  then  became  utterly  miserable,  and  committed  suicide. 

A  very  famous  king  of  Egypt  was  named  Amenophis.  He  is  supposed  to 
be  the  same  with  Memnon,  in  honor  of  whom  a  temple  with  a  gigantic  statue 
was  erected,  of  which  some  remains  are  still  to  be  seen  at  Thebes.  This 
statue  was  said  to  utter  a  joyful  sound  at  sunrise,  and  a  mournful  sound  when 
the  sun  set.     Some  modern  travellers  imagine  that  they  have  heard  it. 

In  the  year  525  before  the  Christian  era,  Egypt  was  conquered  by  Cam- 
byses.  King  of  Persia.  He  compelled  Psammenitus,  who  was  then  king  of 
I^gyp'^'  to  drink  bull's  blood.     It  operated  as  a  poison,  and  caused  his  death. 


EGYPT.  ^Ij 

Three  hundred  and  thirty-two  years  before  the  Christian  era,  Egypt  was 
conquered  by  Alexander  the  Great,  King  of  Macedon.  Here  he  built  a  famous 
city,  called  Alexandria,  which  was  for  many  centuries  one  of  the  most  splendid 
places  in  the  world.  But  the  ancient  city  is  in  ruins,  and  modern  Alexandria 
is  far  inferior  to  it. 

Alexander  appointed  Ptolemy,  one  of  his  generals,  to  be  ruler  of  the 
country.  From  Ptolemy  were  descended  a  race  of  kings,  all  of  whom  were 
likewise  called  Ptolemy.  They  reigned  over  Egypt  294  years.  The  last  of 
these  kings  was  Ptolemy  Dionysius,  whose  own  wife  made  war  ao-ainst  him, 
A  battle  was  fought,  in  which  Ptolemy  Dionysius  was  defeated.  He  attempted 
to  escape,  but  was  drowned  in  the  Nile.  His  wife,  whose  name  was  Cleopatra, 
then  became  sole  ruler  of  Egypt.  She  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women 
that  ever  lived,  and  her  talents  and  accomplishments  were  equal  to  her  per- 
sonal beauty.  But  she  was  very  wicked.  Among  other  horrid  crimes,  Cle- 
opatra poisoned  her  brother,  who  was  only  eleven  years  old.  Yet,  thouo-h  all 
the  world  knew  what  an  abandoned  woman  she  was,  the  greatest  heroes 
could  not  or  would  not  resist  the  enticements  of  her  beauty. 

When  Mark  Antony,  a  Roman  general,  had  defeated  Brutus  and  Cassius 
at  Philippi,  in  Greece,  he  summoned  Cleopatra  to  come  to  Cilicia,  on  the 
north-eastern  coast  of  the  Mediterranean.  He  intended  to  punish  her  for  hav- 
ing assisted  Brutus. 

As  soon  as  Cleopatra  received  the  summons,  she  hastened  to  obey.  She 
went  on  board  a  splendid  vessel,  which  was  richly  adorned  with  gold.  The 
sails  were  made  of  the  costliest  silk.  Instead  of  rough,  sunburnt  sailors,  the 
crew  consisted  of  lovely  girls,  who  rowed  with  silver  oars ;  and  their  strokes 
kept  time  to  melodious  music.  Queen  Cleopatra  reclined  on  the  deck,  beneath 
a  silken  awning.  In  this  manner  she  went  sailing  along  the  river  Cydnus. 
Her  vessel  was  so  magnificent,  and  she  herself  so  lovely,  that  the  whole 
spectacle  appeared  like  a  vision.  Mark  Antony  was  first  warned  of  her  ap- 
proach by  the  smell  of  delicious  perfumes,  which  the  wind  wafted  from  the 
silken  sails  of  the  vessel.  He  next  heard  the  distant  strains  of  music,  and  saw 
the  gleaming  of  the  silver  oars.  But  when  he  beheld  the  beauty  of  the 
Egyptian  queen,  he  thought  of  nothing  else.  Till  Mark  Antony  met  Cleopatra 
he  had  been  an  ambitious  man  and  a  valiant  warrior.  But  from  that  day  for- 
ward he  was  nothing  but  her  slave. 

Owing  to  Cleopatra's  misconduct  and  his  own,  Antony  was  defeated  by 
Octavius,  another  Roman  general,  at  Actium,  in  Greece.  He  then  killed  him- 
self by  falling  on  his  sword.  Cleopatra  knew  that  if  Octavius  took  her  alive, 
he  would  carry  her  to  Rome  and  expose  her  to  the  derision  of  the  populace. 
She  resolved  not  to  endure  this  ignominy.  Now,  in  Egypt  there  is  a  venomous 
reptile,  called  an  asp,  the  bite  of  which  is  mortal,  but  not  very  painful.  Cleo- 
patra applied  one  of  these  reptiles  to  her  bosom.     In  a  little  while  her  body 


412 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


o-rew  benumbed,  and  her  heart  ceased  to  beat;  and  thus  died  the  beautiful 
and  wicked  Queen  of  Egypt.  This  event  occurred  thirty  years  before  Christ. 
After  the  death  of  Cleopatra  Egypt  became  a  province  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  It  continued  to  belong  to  that  power,  and  to  the  portion  of  it  called 
the  Eastern  Empire,  till  the  year  640  after  the  Christian  era.  It  was  then  con- 
quered by  tlie  Saracens.  It  remained  under  their  government  upward  of  six 
centuries.  The  Saracen  sovereigns  were  dethroned  by  the  Mamelukes, 
whom  they  had  trained  up  to  be  their  guards.  The  Mamelukes  ruled  Egypt 
till  the  year  1517,  when  they  were  conquered  by  the  Turks.  They  kept  pos- 
session of  Egypt  till  the  year  1798.  It  was  then  invaded  by  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte with  an  army  of  40,000  Frenchmen.     The  Turks,  ever  since  their  con- 


CAIRO. 


quest  of  Egypt,  had  kept  a  body  of  Mamelukes  in  their  service;  these  made 
a  desperate  resistance.  A  battle  was  fought  near  the  pyramids,  in  which 
many  of  them  were  slain,  and  others  were  drowned  in  the  Nile.  Not  long 
after  this  victory  Bonaparte  went  back  to  France,  and  left  General  Kleber  in 
command  of  the  French  army. 

General  Kleber  was  a  brave  man,  but  a  severe  one,  and  his  severity  cost 
him  his  life.  He  had  ordered  an  old  Mussulman,  named  the  Sheik  Sada,  to 
be  bastinadoed  on  the  soles  of  his  feet.  Shordy  afterward,  when  the  general 
was  in  a  mosque,  a  fierce  Arab  rushed  upon  him  and  killed  him  with  a  dagger. 

In  1 801,  the  English  sent  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  with  an  army  to  drive 
the  French  out  of  Egypt.     General  Menou  was  then  the  French  commander. 


EGYPT.  413 

Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  beat  him  at  the  battle  of  Aboukir,  but  was  himself 
mortally  wounded. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year  the  French  army  sailed  from  Egypt  back  to 
France.  The  inhabitants  lamented  their  departure,  for  the  French  o-enerals 
had  ruled  them  with  more  justice  and  moderation  than  their  old  masters,  the 
Turks.  Egypt  is  now  governed  by  a  successor  of  Mehemet  Ali,  who  bears 
the  title  of  pasha,  but  the  country  is  tributary  to  the  Turkish  Empire. 

Cairo,  the  capital  of  Egypt,  was  founded  by  the  Arab  conquerors  of  Egypt 
in  the  year  970  a.  d.     The  name  El-KaJiireh  signifies  "  The  Victorious." 

From  the  citadel  of  Cairo  is  displayed  a  magnificent  panorama.  To  the 
east  are  seen  the  obelisk  of  Heliopolis  and  the  tombs  of  the  Mamelukes  ;  to 
the  south  the  lofty  quarries  of  Mount  Mokattem,  with  ruined  casdes,  moulder- 
ing domes  and  the  remains  of  other  edifices ;  south-west  and  west  are  the 
grand  aqueduct,  mosques  and  minarets,  the  Nile,  the  ruins  of  old  Cairo  and 
the  island  and  groves  of  Rhoda ;  beyond  the  river,  on  the  south-west,  the 
town  Ghizeh,  amid  groves  of  sycamore,  fig  and  palm  trees ;  still  more  remote, 
the  pyramids  of  Ghizeh  and  Sakkara,  and  beyond  these  the  great  Libyan  des- 
ert. In  the  northern  direction  may  be  seen  the  green  plains  of  the  delta, 
sprinkled  with  white  edifices  ;  and  to  the  north  and  north-east  of  the  spectator 
is  the  city  of  Cairo,  with  her  400  mosques,  whose  sunlit  domes  are  glistening 
in  the  sun.     It  is  a  never-to-be-forgotten  sight. 

To  those  who  are  fond  of  fun  and  amusement,  the  excitement  going  on  in 
Cairo  from  morning  till  night  is  immense.  Dragomans — black,  yellow  and 
white — splendidly  dressed  in  flowing  trowsers,  silk  and  satin  vests,  embroid- 
ered jackets  and  immense  turbans,  quarrelling  with  the  donkey-owners,  who 
are  quarrelling  and  finding  fault  with  the  donkey-drivers,  who  are  doing  the 
same  with  the  donkeys.  The  traveller  threatens  to  belabor  the  dragoman, 
the  dragoman  does  belabor  the  owner,  the  owner  belabors  the  boy  and  the 
boy  the  donkey,  and  none  of  them  seem  to  care  much  for  it.  Add  to  this 
half  a  dozen  mountebanks;  a  dozen  dealers  in  relics,  turbans  and  handker- 
chiefs ;  fifty  dogs,  one  of  whom  is  playing  circus  with  a  monkey  on  his  back; 
a  snake-charmer,  with  a  bagful  of  immense  snakes,  all*  standing  erect  (if  a 
snake  can  be  said  to  stand),  with  fangs  protruding,  ready  to  make  a  plunge  at 
their  conqueror,  who  offers  to  swallow  any  one  of  them  for  a  shilling,  and  you 
have  a  faint  idea  of  what  is  daily  going  on. 

Besides  the  Mahometans,  who  of  course  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  m- 
habitants  of  Cairo,  and  who  number  nearly  250,000,  there  are  some  30,000  or 
40,000  of  other  sects  and  countries;  such  as  Copts  (native  Egyptian  Chris- 
tians), Jews,  Greeks,  Armenians  and  Franks.  These  are  generally  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Mahometans  by  their  dress  and  their  complexion, 
though  of  the  latter  there  are  many  shades  among  all  classes. 

Alexandria,  the  seaport  and  commercial  capital  of  Egypt,  contains  nearly 


414  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  main  objects  of  interest  here  are 
Pompey's  Pillar,  which  is  of  red  poHshed  granite,  and  loo  feet  in  height;  and 
Cleopatra's  Needles,  which  were  quarried  in  the  reign  of  Thothmes  III.. 
1495  1!.  c,  and  are  consequendy  now  3,382  years  old. 

The  Egyptian  native  is  gentle,  and  travellers  who  always  go  armed  to  the 
teeth  take  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  trouble.  They  will  meet  with  plenty 
of  cheating  and  lying ;  but  that  is  generally  the  worst.  Instances  ot  robbery 
and  murder  are  comparatively  rare.  The  people  are  now  commonly  called 
Arabs,  but  the  rulers  are  Turks  ;  and  in  the  seaport  towns  on  the  delta  of  the 
Nile  is  a  great  population  of  Christians,  merchants  from  all  the  Mediterranean 
ports,  and  also  Copts  and  Armenians. 

In  Egypt,  Arabia  and  Persia,  the  fruit  of  the  date  palm  and  doum  palm 
trees  forms  the  principal  food  of  the  people,  and  a  man's  wealth  is  computed 
by  the  number  of  such  palms  he  possesses.  Both  the  date  and  the  doum 
palm  are  found  in  Egypt,  but  the  former  disappears  as  the  traveller  descends 
the  Nile  and  enters  Nubia. 

Abydos,  alluded  to  in  Byron's  celebrated  poem,  "  The  Bride  of  Abydos," 
owes  its  importance  to  the  fact  that  the  god  Osiris  was  buried  here,  and  rich 
Egyptians  from  all  parts  wished  to  have  their  bodies  lie  in  the  sacred  dust 
which  their  god  had  hallowed.  The  tombs  are  very  old,  and  date  back  to  the 
si.xteenth  and  seventeenth  dynasties. 

The  principal  ruins,  which  cover  a  great  extent,  are  the  Memnonium,  or 
palace  of  Memnon,  the  Temple  of  Osiris,  and  the  Necropolis. 

The  Temple  of  Osiris  lies  north  of  the  Memnonium :  this  was  one  of  the 
temples  the  most  revered  in  Egypt.  It  was  here  that,  in  1808,  the  famous  in- 
scription, now  in  the  British  Museum,  known  under  the  name  of  the  Table  of 
Abydos,  was  found.  It  contained  originally  the  names  of  all  the  ancestors  of 
Rameses  the  Great,  which  agree  with  the  names  of  the  oldest  of  the  Phara- 
ohs, which  were  found  at  the  Memnonium  at  Thebes.  Part  of  the  tablet  was 
unfortunately  destroyed,  and  some  of  the  names  lost. 

North  of  the  Temple  of  Osiris  lies  the  Necropolis,  or  burial-ground,  where 
may  be  seen  numerous  tombstones  of  the  time  of  Osirtasen  ;  here  was  also  a 
colossal  statue  of  that  Pharaoh,  now  in  the  museum  of  Cairo. 

Let  us  now  take  a  glance  at  Thebes,  the  most  celebrated  and  magnificent 
of  the  ancient  capitals  of  Egypt ;  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Pharaohs 
when  in  the  zenith  of  their  power,  and  whose  remains  exceed  in  extent  and 
grandeur  all  the  most  lively  imagination  can  depict.  No  written  account  can 
ever  give  an  adequate  impression  of  the  effect,  past  and  present,  of  its  tem- 
ples, palaces,  obelisks,  colossal  statues,  sphinxes  and  sculptures  of  various 
kinds.  They  condnue  from  age  to  age  to  excite  the  awe  and  admiration  of 
the  spectator.  To  have  seen  the  monuments  of  Thebes  is  to  have  seen  the 
Egyptians  as  they  lived  and  moved  before  the  eyes  of  Moses.     To  have  seen 


DOUM    PALMS    OF    UPPER    i:(.^  FT 


(41&' 


416  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

the  tombs  of  Thebes  is  to  have  seen  the  whole  religion  of  the  Eg)'ptians  at 
the  most  solemn  moments  of  their  lives.  Nothing  that  can  be  said  about  them 
will  prepare  the  traveller  for  their  extraordinary  grandeur. 

"  Not  all  proud  Thebes'  unrivalled  walls  contain, 
The  world's  great  empress  on  the  Egyptian  plain, 
That  spreads  her  conquest  o'er  9.  thousand  states. 
And  pours  her  heroes  through  a  hundred  gates, 
Two  hundred  horsemen  and  two  hundred  cars 
From  each  wide  portal  issuing  to  the  wars." 

The  most  striking  of  the  ruins  are  those  of  Karnak  and  Luxor,  on  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  river,  with  the  Memnonium,  Medinet  Haboo,  Koornah, 
Tombs  of  the  Priests,  Tombs  of  the  Kings  and  the  Vocal  Memnon,  on  the 
western  side.  The  sanctuary  of  Ammon,  a  small  granite  edifice  founded  by 
Osirtasen,  with  the  vestiges  of  the  earliest  temples  around,  is  the  centre  of 
the  vast  collection  of  palaces  and  temples  which  is  called  Karnak. 

Among  the  ruins  of  the  Memnonium  are  the  fragments  of  the  stupendous 
colossal  statue  of  Rameses  the  Great.  It  has  been  broken  off  at  the  waist, 
and  the  upper  part  now  lies  prostrate  on  the  ground.  This  enormous  statue 
measures  sixty-three  feet  round  the  shoulders,  and  thirteen  feet  from  the  crown 
of  the  head  to  the  top  of  the  shoulders.  The  Arabs  have  scooped  millstones 
out  of  his  face,  but  you  can  still  see  what  he  was — the  largest  statue  in  the 
w^orld.  Rameses  rested  here  in  awful  majesty,  after  the  conquest  of  the  whole 
of  the  then  known  world.  Next  to  the  wonder  excited  by  the  boldness  of  this 
sculpture,  is  the  labor  that  must  have  been  exerted  to  destroy  it — to  destroy 
these  countless  statues  that  strew  the  plains  of  Thebes.  This  wholesale  de- 
struction was  by  the  orders  of  Cambyses,  the  conquering  king  of  Persia,  about 
2,400  years  ago. 

The  two  immense  colossi — one  of  them  commonly  known  as  the  Vocal 
Memnon  (the  statue  that,  according  to  ancient  tradition,  uttered  musical 
sounds  when  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  first  glowed  above  the  eastern 
mountains) — stand,  like  lonely  landmarks,  hoary,  blackened,  time-worn  and 
defaced,  in  the  midst  of  the  Theban  plain. 

To  any  one  who  will  take  a  glance  at  any  map  of  Egypt,  the  importance 
of  connecting  the  Red  sea  with  the  Mediterranean  at  the  Gulf  of  Suez  will 
be  at  once  evident.  The  town  of  Suez  is  situated  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  of 
the  same  name ;  the  Red  sea  dividing  at  its  northern  extremity  into  the  gulfs 
of  Akaba  and  Suez.  The  peninsular  region  inclosed  between  these  two  gulfs 
is  a  rugged  mountainous  wilderness,  and  the  scene  of  the  journey  of  the  hosts 
of  Israel ;  and  Suez,  from  the  nature  of  the  mountains  on  the  Egyptian  side, 
must  have  been  the  spot  where  they  crossed.  Not  far  away  are  the  spring.*^ 
known  as  "  Moses'  Well,"  situated  in  the  desert  in  an  oasis,  where,  under  the 


[■in, 


418 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


grateful  shade  of  the  tamarind  and  palm,  the  air  laden  with  the  perfume  of 
flowers,  the  Arab  of  Suez  delights  to  come  and  forget  the  noisome  odors  of 
his  city  abode. 

The  connection  of  the  Red  sea  with  the  Mediterranean  by  a  canal  was 
considered  a  desirable  object  at  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  It  is  even  asserted  that,  as  early  as  the  time  of  the  Pharaohs,  such  a 
canal  was  actually  constructed,  extending  from  the  Nile  to  the  Gulf  of  Suez. 
In  more  recent  times  Napoleon  I.  projected  a  canal  across  the  isthmus.  Its 
value  lies  in  the  importance  of  the  commerce  of  India  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

The  construction  of  the  Suez  canal  was  carried  to  a  successful  issue  by  the 
French  savant,  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  in    1869.     Subsequently,  by  a  master- 


FERRY    OF    KANTARA. 


piece  of  diplomacy,  the  British  government  purchased  the  khedive's  shares  in 
the  canal ;  and  extreme  bitterness  was  aroused  both  in  France  and  in  Russia 
by  the  preponderance  gained  by  England,  both  commercially  and  politically, 
by  this  remarkable  transaction. 

At  the  east  side  of  the  Suez  canal  lies  the  plain  of  Pelusus.  The  highway 
from  Palestine,  Syria  and  Persia  came  by  this  plain  ;  a  road  still  exists,  and  a 
ferry  had  to  be  established  at  Kantara,  which  word  expresses  "  ferry"  and  tells 
of  the  former  existence  of  the  means  of  crossing  the  waters  of  the  lake  Menzaleh 
at  this  place ;  a  lake  which  now  exists  only  on  the  western  side  of  the  canal, 
the  portion  on  the  eastern  side  having  dried  up. 

Among  the  many  triumphs  which  have  been  achieved  by  scholars  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  decipherment  of  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  takes  a 


EGYPT.  4JJ) 

veo'  high  place.  By  this  the  history  of  Egypt  has  been  unfolded,  and  its 
learning  and  wisdom  made  available  for  the  people  of  to-day.  This  oreat 
achievement  resulted  from  the  discovery  of  the  famous  Rosetta  Stone^by  a 
French  artillery  officer,  in  1799,  during  the  expedition  to  Egypt  under  Napo- 
leon I.  The  stone,  which  is  now  in  the  British  Museum,  is  two  feet  five  inches 
wide,  and  contains  inscriptions  in  three  kinds  of  writing,  one  in  hieroo-lyphics 
another  in  what  is  called  demotic,  or  the  language  of  the  people,  and  the  third 
in  Greek.  This  last  being  known,  furnished  the  key  to  the  others,  because 
all  the  inscriptions  were  found  to  be  texts  of  the  same  decree,  beino-  a  decree 
drawn  up  by  the  priests  of  Memphis  in  honor  of  their  king,  Ptolemy  Epiphanes, 
B.  c.  198. 

A  large  portion  of  the  literature  of  Egypt  comes  down  to  us  in  the  shape 
of  Iristorical  inscriptions  graven  upon  pyramids,  obelisks  and  walls  of  temples. 
The  sentences  are  sometimes  short  and  abrupt ;  but  frequently  they  have  a 
kind  of  music  which  is  exceedingly  fine.  They  have  also  what  is  now  called 
by  Egyptologists  "The  Book  of  the  Dead,"  but  which  the  Egyptians  them- 
selves called  "  Coming  Forth  by  Day."  This  book  exhibits  their  religious  be- 
lief, their  views  of  the  judgment  after  death,  and  the  transformations  of  the 
blessed  dead  before  they  attained  final  rest. 

The  ancient  Egyptians  are  the  only  people  known  who  have  succeeded  in 
bringing  the  art  of  embalming  or  mummifying  to  perfection.  They  believed 
that  the  soul  would  revisit  the  body  after  a  number  of  years,  and  therefore  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  that  the  body  should  be  preserved  if  its  owner 
wished  to  live  forever  with  the  eods. 

In  1 88 1  were  discovered  the  mummies  of  Sethi  I.,  Thothmes  II.,  Thothmes 
III.,  and  Rameses  II.,  surnamed  the  Great;  heroes  whose  exploits  and  fame 
filled  the  ancient  world  with  awe  more  than  three  thousand  years  ago. 

The  mummy  of  Thothmes  III.  was  unrolled  to  make  certain  that  the  mono- 
gram of  his  name  outside  indicated  that  the  remains  within  were  really  those 
of  that  .monarch.  The  inscriptions  on  the  bandages  established  the  fact  be- 
yond all  doubt.  Once  more  human  eyes  gazed  on  the  features  of  the  man 
who  had  conquered  Syria,  and  Cyprus,  and  Ethiopia,  and  raised  Egypt  to  the 
highest  pinnacle  of  her  power.  The  spectacle  was  of  brief  duration  ;  the  re- 
mains proved  to  be  in  so  fragile  a  state  that  there  was  only  time  to  take  a  hasty 
photograph,  and  then  the  features  crumbled  to  pieces  and  vanished  like  an  ap- 
parition, and  so  passed  away  from  human  view  forever.  The  director  of  the 
Boolak  Museum,  to  which  the  mummies  had  been  taken,  felt  such  remorse  at 
the  result  that  he  refused  to  allow  the  unrolling  of  Rameses  the  Great,  for  fear 
of  a  similar  catastrophe. 

Besides  men  and  women,  the  Egyptians  also  mummified  cats,  crocodiles, 
snakes,  birds,  such  as  the  ibis  and  hawk,  and  many  other  creatures. 

A  region  of  territorj'  in  Eastern  Africa,  called  Soudan,  in  itself  most  in- 


420 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


sio-nificant,  has,  by  reason  of  recent  developments,  been  suddenly  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  civilized  world,  and  has  engaged  public  attention  in  no  small 
degree. 

Soudan  is  the  name  given  to  that  vast  extent  of  territory  in  Upper  Egypt 
that  stretches  from  Nubia  to  the  confines  of  Abyssinia,  and  from  the  Red  sea 
to  the  Libyan  desert.  The  great  river  Nile,  composed  of  Bah-rel-Abiad,  the 
White,  Bah-rel-Azrek,  the  Blue  Nile,  and  the  Atbara,  together  with  the  other 
tributaries,  traverses  its  whole  length  from  south  to  north.  The  land,  as  it 
recedes  from  the  Red  sea  westward,  assumes  an  elevation  of  i,8oo  feet.  Its 
surface  is  rugged,  rocky  and  mainly  barren. 

This  vast  territory  is  peopled  by  hordes  of  Arabs  of  various  tribes,  whose 
number  is  computed  to  be  between  30,000,000  and  40,000,000. 


EGYPTIAN    FAMILY. 


The  Arab — and  in  this  nomenclature,  besides  the  natives  of  Arabia  proper, 
all  the  inhabitants  of  northern  and  half  of  the  eastern  portion  of  Africa  are  to 
be  comprehended — is  a  singular  race.  Wild  and  ferocious,  like  the  savages 
of  the  Far  West,  the  Arabs  are  endowed  with  a  keener  intellect  and  a  highly 
nervous  temperament;  a  characteristic  which  has  impressed  itself  upon  the 
Spanish  nation  by  reason  of  contact.  Unlike,  however,  the  aborigines  of 
America,  who  are  stolid,  content  with  hunting  and  the  gratification  of  their 
natural  wants,  the  Arabs  are  ever  restless  and  aggressive,  and  prey  upon  their 
fellow-beings.  Although  very  dark  in  complexion,  they  are  not  negroes  ;  their 
hair  is  coarse,  but  smooth. 

Slaves  being  a  staple  commodity  among  the  Mussulmans,  Mahometan- 
ism  greatly  tended  to  stimulate  the  ardor  of  the  Arabs  of  Soudan  to  extra 


EGYPT.  421 

exertion,  and  the  consequence  has  been  that  the  necrroes  of  Central  Africa 
have  been  the  sufferers.  Frequent  incursions  are  made  into  their  territories 
and  hordes  are  captured,  who  are  either  employed  to  till  the  ^^round  for  the 
benefit  of  their  captors,  or  sold  into  slavery,  both  men  and  women  ;  the  former, 
if  young,  being-  first  denaturalized,  so  as  to  be  marketable  for  harem  service. 

The  British  government  endeavored  to  put  a  stop  to  the  traffic  in  slavery, 
and  for  that  purpose  sent  out  Sir  Samuel  Baker.  But  his  efforts  were  futile, 
for  he  could  find  no  sympathy  or  support  from  any  one,  not  even  from  the  of- 
ficials themselves  ;  on  the  contrary,  everybody  was  against  him,  either  from 
principle  or  from  interested  motives.  It  is  a  wonder  that  he  was  permitted  to 
return  alive.  In  his  report  he  says:  "In  ordinary  times  many  a  government 
official,  if  he  meets  with  a  gang  of  slaves  driven  by  a  party  of  marauders  to 
some  distant  market,  with  their  hands  bound  to  a  log  of  wood  behind  their 
backs,  will  content  himself  with  a  friendly  'parley'  and  a  handsome  bribe." 

Sir  Samuel  discovered  one  case  in  which  the  Egyptian  deputy-o-overnor 
knowingly  allowed  a  boat  to  pass  which  seemed  to  be  laden  with  grain,  but 
which  contained  more  than  400  men,  women  and  children,  packed  like  her- 
rings below  the  deck  where  the  supposed  cargo  was  laid. 

Gordon  Pasha,  the  celebrated  "  Chinese  Gordon,"  succeeded  Sir  Samuel, 
with  no  better  result.  Gordon  is  supposed  to  have  been  killed  at  Khartoum, 
a  city  which  was  captured  by  a  false  prophet  called  the  "  Mahdi." 

Suakin,  an  important  port  on  the  Red  sea,  is  famed  as  being  the  hottest 
place  on  the  Red  sea,  if  not  on  the  globe.  A  conversation  overheard  one  day 
in  front  of  the  governor's  house  will  illustrate  this.  Two  sentries  were  pac- 
ing to  and  fro,  when  one  of  them  said : 

"Abdallah !  you  knew  Suleiman,  our  brother,  who  died  from  the  effects  of 
the  heat?" 

"  I  knew  him,"  replied  Abdallah. 

"Listen,  O  my  brother,"  continued  Mustapha.  "Last  night  Suleiman 
appeared  to  me  whilst  I  slept,  and  said:  'Mustapha,  Suakin  is  indeed  hotter 
than  hell — for  I  am  in  hell,  as  you  may  suppose.  Hell  is  a  cold  place  com- 
pared to  Suakin  ;  so  much  so,  that  the  night  of  my  arrival  there,  feeling  col4 
I  woke  up  the  devil  to  ask  him  for  a  blanket.'  Surprised,  he  asked  me: 
'  Soldier,  whence  came  you  ?  '  When  I  told  him  Suakin,  he  replied,  '  I  under- 
stand ; '  and  thereupon  he  cried  out :  '  Give  the  man  from  Suakin  a  blanket.' " 


THE    BARBARY    STATES. 


^^^^LGIERS,  Morocco,  Tunis  and  Tripoli   are  known  as  the  Barbary 
~     '^  States.    They  are  bounded  north  by  tlie  Mediterranean  sea,  east  and 

south  by  the  desert,  and  west  by  the  Adantic  ocean.     These  coun- 
tries of  North  Africa  were  inhabited  in  the  time  of  the  Romans. 
Morocco  was  called  Mauritania;  and  Algiers,  Numidia.   These  regions 

fwere  first  setded  by  colonies  from  Phoenicia,  Greece  and  other  countries. 
In  this  region  stood  the  celebrated  city  of  Carthage  in  ancient  times. 
Its  site  was  about  ten  miles  north-east  of  the  present  city  of  Tunis.  France 
had  loner  been  casting  covetous  eyes  upon  the  litde  state  of  Tunis,  which 
nominally  was  under  Turkish  rule,  but  really  was  independent.  It  possessed 
the  best,  virtually  the  only  harbors  of  the  northern  coast  of  Africa.  Lying 
immediately  east  of  Algeria,  it  was  an  asylum  for  Algerian  malcontents  and 
the  refuge  of  insurrectionary  tribes.  Algeria,  since  its  first  occupation  by  the 
French,  has  been  a  dangerous  possession,  and  even  at  present  it  cannot  be 
regarded  as  thoroughly  conquered,  especially  in  the  southern  districts  border- 
ing on  the  desert.  At  the  Berlin  congress,  when  it  was  arranged  that  Eng- 
land, Austria  and  Russia  should  each  receive  a  part  of  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
Count  St.  Vallier,  the  French  delegate,  hinted  the  desire  of  his  government  to 
have  a  share  of  the  spoils,  by  opposing  the  dismemberment  of  Turkey.  One 
day,  while  he  was  expressing  his  views  to  Bismarck,  the  chancellor  shrugged 
his  shoulders  and  said : 

"Why  not  take  Tunis  for  your  share?  No  one  will  oppose  you." 
From  that  moment  Count  St.  Vallier  withdrew  his  opposition.  A  few 
months  later  preparations  for  the  French  expedidon  were  being  carried  for- 
ward with  energy  and  secrecy.  On  the  pretext  of  chastising  the  Bedouins 
that  had  invaded  Algiers,  the  French  entered  Tunisian  territory.  Then  fol- 
lowed a  series  of  so-called  victories  over  the  beggarly,  unarmed  and  half- 
starved  Bedouin  Arabs,  the  bombardment  of  the  defenceless  town  of  Tabarca, 
expeditions  against  an  imaginary  enemy,  and  finally  the  parade  march  toward 
the  capital. 

The  country  now  called  Morocco  was  conqureed  by  the  Saracens  about  the 
same  time  with  the  other  Barbary  states.  So  also  was  Tripoli.  All  these 
states,  except  Morocco,  afterward  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks. 

Three  distinct  races  are  usually  included  under  the  name  of  Moors,  namely, 
the  Arabs,  the  true  Moors,  and  the  Berbers. 

The  Arabs  came  originally  from  the  Sahara,  over  whose  boundless  wastes 
a  large  propordon  of  their  race  still  wander.  The  Moors  are  essentially 
townsmen.     They  are  the  degenerate  descendants  of  that  section  of  the  Arab 

(422) 


THE  BARBARY  STATES. 


423 


race,  who,  in  the  eighth  century,  after  establishing  the  powerful  kingdom  of 
Fez,  overran  a  large  portion  of  Spain. 

The  Moors  fill  the  chief  places  under  the  government;  and,  notwithstand-' 
ing  a  great  inferiority  in  numbers,  possess  more  power  than  any  of  the  other 
races. 


A    STREET    IN    TUNIS. 

During  a  long  period,  the  Barbary  States  were  in  the  habit  of  fitting  out 
vessels  to^'cruise'' against  the  ships  of  other  nations.  Their  prisoners  were 
sold  as  slaves,  and  never  returned  to  their  own  country,  unless  a  high  ransom 
was  paid  for  them.  The  Americans  were  the  first  who  made  any  considera- 
ble resistance  to  these  outrages.  In  the  year  1S03,  Commodore  Preble  sailed 
to  the  Mediterranean  sea  with  a  small  American  fleet.     He  intended  to  attack 


424  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Tripoli;  but  one  of  his  frigates,  the  Philadelphia,  got  aground  in  the  harbor. 
The  Turks  took  possession  of  the  Philadelphia.  But  one  night  Lieutenant 
Decatur  entered  the  harbor  of  Tripoli,  and  rowed  toward  the  captured  vessel 
with  only  twenty  men.  He  leaped  on  board,  followed  by  his  crew,  and  killed 
all  the  Turks  or  drove  them  overboard ;  the  Philadelphia  was  then  set  on  fire. 
After  this  exploit.  Commodore  Preble  obtained  some  gunboats  from  the  king 
of  Naples,  and  with  these  and  the  American  vessels  he  made  an  attack  on  the 
fortifications  of  Tripoli.  The  Pasha  of  Tripoli  was  forced  to'  give  up  his 
prisoners. 

In  the  year  1815,  Commodore  Decatur — the  same  who  had  burnt  the  Phila- 
delphia— was  sent  with  a  fleet  against  Algiers.  He  captured  their  largest  ves- 
sels, and  compelled  the  Algerines,  and  the  Tripolitans  also,  to  agree  never 
more  to  make  slaves  of  Americans. 

In  181 6,  Algiers  was  battered  by  an  English  fleet  under  the  command  of 
Lord  Exmouth.  This  was  the  severest  chastisement  that  the  Algerines  had 
ever  received  at  that  period.  But  in  1830  the  French  sent  a  large  naval  and 
military  force  against  Algiers,  commanded  by  Marshal  Beaumont.  The  war 
continued  for  seventeen  years,  an  Arab  leader,  by  the  name  of  Abdel  Kader, 
making  a  powerful  resistance  to  the  French.  At  length  Abdel  Kader  was  de- 
feated and  taken  prisoner  ;  so  the  country  was  conquered,  and  Algiers,  under 
the  name  of  Algeria,  is  now  a  province  of  France. 


CENTRAL  AND  SOUTH  AFRICA. 


FRICA  is  less  known  than  any  other  grand  division  of  the  globe. 
Many  portions  of  the  interior  have  never  been  visited  by 
Europeans.  The  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  are  negroes, 
of  which  there  are  many  tribes.  Some  of  these  are  intelligent, 
and  live  tolerably  well,  but  the  greater  part  are  either  in  a  savage 
or  barbarous  state.  The  climate  being  warm,  they  need  little 
shelter  or  clothing.  Their  houses  are  therefore  poor  mud  huts, 
or  slight  tenements,  made  of  leaves  or  branches  of  trees.  Their  dress  is  often 
but  a  single  piece  of  cloth  tied  around  the  waist.  They  are,  however,  a  cheer- 
ful race,  and  spend  much  of  their  time  in  various  amusements. 

Besides  the  negroes,  there  are  several  other  races  of  Africans.  The  in- 
habitants, from  Egypt  to  Abyssinia,  appear  to  consist  of  the  original  Egyptian 
people,  mixed  with  Turks,  Arabs  and  others.  The  people  of  the  Barbary 
States  are  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Carthagfinians,  mingled  with  the 
Saracens  who  conquered  the  country,  together  with  Turks  and  Arabs. 

The  immense    Desert    of  Sahara — which  is   almost  as  extensive  as  the 


CENTRAL   AND   SOUTH   AFRICA.  42.5 

whole  United  States — with  part  of  the  adjacent  regions,  appears  to  be  oc- 
cupied by  wandering  tribes  of  Arabs,  who  move  from  place  to  place  with  their 
horses  and  camels,  like  the  people  of  Arabia,  for  pasturage  or  plunder. 

Africa  may  be  considered  as,  on  the  whole,  the  least  civilized  division  of 
the  earth.  The  people  are  mostly  Mahometans,  and  one-half  of  them  are 
nearly  in  a  savage  state.     The  rest  are  in  a  barbarous  condidon. 

The  central  parts  of  Africa  abound  in  wild  animals,  such  as  lions,  panthers, 
leopards,  elephants,  rhinoceroses,  zebras  and  quaggas.  The  woods  are  filled 
with  chattering  monkeys,  the  thickets  are  infested  with  monstrous  serpents, 
ostriches  roam  over  the  deserts,  various  kinds  of  antelopes  and  deer,  in  vast 
herds,  graze  upon  the  plains,  hippopotami  are  seen  in  the  lakes  and  rivers, 
and  crocodiles  abound  in  the  stagnant  waters.  Wild  birds  of  every  hue  meet 
the  eye  of  the  traveller  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Central  and  Southern  Africa  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  any  historj'.  The 
inhabitants  possess  no  written  records,  and  cannot  tell  what  events  have  hap- 
pened to  their  forefathers. 

The  ancients  had  very  curious  notions  about  Africa,  for  they  had  visited 
only  the  northern  parts,  and  contented  themselves  with  telling  incredible 
stories  about  the  remainder.  They  supposed  that  toward  the  eastern  shore 
of  the  continent  there  were  people  without  noses,  and  others  who  had  three 
or  four  eyes  apiece. 

In  other  parts  of  Africa  there  were  said  to  be  men  without  heads,  but  who 
had  eyes  in  their  breasts.  Old  writers  speak  also  of  a  nadon  whose  king  had 
a  head  like  a  dog.  There  was  likewise  said  to  be  a  race  of  giants,  twice  as 
tall  as  common  men  and  women. 

But  the  prettiest  ol  all  these  fables  is  the  story  of  the  Pigmies.  These  litde 
people  were  said  to  be  about  a  foot  high,  and  were  believed  to  dwell  near  the 
source  of  the  river  Nile.  Their  houses  were  built  something  like  birds'  nests, 
and  their  building  materials  were  clay,  feathers,  and  egg-shells.  These  Pig- 
mies used  to  wage  terrible  wars  with  the  cranes.  An  immense  army  of  them 
would  set  out  on  an  expedition,  some  mounted  on  rams  and  goats,  and  others 
on  foot.  When  an  army  of  the  Pigmies  encountered  an  army  of  the  cranes, 
great  valor  was  displayed  on  both  sides.  The  cranes  would  rush  forward  to 
the  charge  flapping  their  wings,  and  sometimes  one  of  them  would  snatch  up 
a  Pigmy  in  his  beak,  and  carry  him  away  capdve.  But  the  Pigmies  brandished 
their  litde  swords  and  spears,  and  generally  succeeded  in  putting  the  enemy  to 
flight.  Whenever  they  had  a  chance,  they  would  break  the  eggs  of  the  cranes 
and  kill  the  unfledged  young  ones  without  mercy. 

It  was  long  supposed  that  the  story  of  Herodotus  about  the  Pigmies  of 
Africa  was  altogether  mythical,  but  within  the  past  twenty  years  abundant 
evidence  has  accumulated  of  the  existence  of  a  number  of  tribes  ot  curious 
litde  folks  in  equatorial  Africa.     The  chief  among  these  tribes  are  the  Akka, 


426 


THE  GOLDEN    TREASURY. 

whom  Schweinfurth  found  north-west  of  Albert  Nyassa ;  the  Obongo,  discovered 
by  Du  Chaillu  in  west  Africa,  south-east  of  the  Gaboon,  and  the  Batwa,  south 

of  the  Congo.  • 

These  Httle  people  range  in  height  from  four  feet  two  mches  to  about  four 


SCENES    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    DR.   LIVINGSTONE. 

feet  eight  inches.  They  are  intellectually  as  well  as  physically  inferior  to  the 
other  tribes  of  Africa.  They  are  perhaps  nearer  the  brute  kingdom  than  any 
other  human  beings.  The  Obongo,  for  instance,  wear  no  semblance  of  clothing; 
make  no  huts  except  to  bend  over  and  fasten  to  the  ground  the  tops  of  three 
or  four  young  trees,  which  they  cover  with  leaves;   possess  no  arts  except  the 


CHRISTMAS    AT   AN    AFRICAN    MISSIONARY   STATION. 


^427) 


428  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

makincr  of  bows  and  arrows,  and  do  not  till  the  soil.  They  live  on  the  smallej- 
eame  of  the  forest,  and  on  nuts  and  berries. 

For  many  centuries  the  mystery  of  the  Nile  had  been  a  wonder  to  all  who 
dwelt  upon  its  banks,  and  to  travellers  who  came  there  to  learn  the  wisdom  of 
the  Eo-yptians.  It  flowed  from  unknown  regions,  and  for  the  last  thousand 
miles  of  its  course  did  not  receive  a  rivulet  from  either  side,  and  only  at  rare 
and  uncertain  intervals  a  drop  of  water  from  the  clouds.  For  nine  months  of 
the  year  its  uniform  and  majestic  flood  rolled  within  its  steep  banks.  Then, 
almost  at  a  given  day,  from  year  to  year,  the  river,  with  no  apparent  cause, 
began  to  rise,  overflowing  its  banks  and  transforming  the  narrow  valley  into 
a  lake.  In  a  few  weeks  the  flood  subsided,  leaving  behind  a  thin  layer  of 
mud,  the  source  of  all  the  fertility  of  Egypt. 

In  general  terms,  tropical  Africa  consists  of  an  elevated  central  plateau, 
separated  from  low  tracts  along  the  coast  by  lines  of  hills  and  mountains, 
running  at  various  distances  from  the  coast.  There  are  thus  three  well- 
marked  divisions:  the  low,  unhealthy  coast  region,  the  mountain  ranges,  and 
the  central  plateau.  Of  this  plateau  the  chief  water-basins,  beginning  from  the 
south,  are  those  of  the  Zambesi,  whose  waters  are  discharged  eastward  into 
the  Indian  ocean  ;  the  Congo,  whose  waters  flow  westward  into  the  Atlantic ; 
and  the  Nile,  whose  waters  flow  northward  into  the  Mediterranean. 

The  Congo  is  in  volume  of  water  second  only  to  the  Amazon.  There  is  a 
remarkable  feature  connected  with  the  Congo  and  the  Zambesi.  Both  rivers 
flow  three-quarters  of  the  way  across  the  continent,  and  for  a  considerable 
space  parallel  to,  and  at  no  very  great  distance  from  each  other,  but  in  op- 
posite directions  ;  the  Zambesi  from  west  to  east,  the  Congo  from  east  to  west. 
The  head  waters  of  some  of  these  affluents  indeed  interlock  on  an  almost  level 
table-land,  which  was  crossed  by  both  Livingstone  and  Cameron. 

David  Livingstone  was  born  near  Glasgow,  Scotland,  in  1813.  In  1840 
he  went  as  a  missionary  to  South  Africa,  where  he  showed  a  decided  tendency 
for  scientific  and  geographical  investigations.  He  died  on  the  ist  of  May, 
1873,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Bangweolo.  From  the  death  of  Livingstone  the 
interest  of  African  discovery  centres  mainly  upon  the  long  journeys  of  Cameron 
and  of  Stanley.  The  names  of  Barth,  Baker  and  Speke  stand  high  in  the  list 
of  African  explorers. 

Livingstone  thought  that  "  we  ought  to  encourage  the  Africans  to  cultivate 
for  our  markets,  as  the  most  effectual  means,  next  to  the  gospel,  of  their  eleva- 
tion." He  therefore  proposed  the  formation  of  stations  on  the  Zambesi, 
beyond  the  Portuguese  territories,  but  having  communication  through  them 
with  the  coast.  This  a  number  of  religious  bodies  aereed  to  do.  Livinestone 
said  that  "  the  country  is  so  extensive  that  there  was  no  need  of  clashing. 
All  classes  of  Christians  find  that  sectarian  rancor  soon  dies  out  when  they  are 
working  together  among  and  for  the  heathen." 


CENTRAL  AND   SOUTH  AFRICA. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  expeditions  that  ever  entered  Africa  was  that 
which  was  undertaken  by  Stanley  for  the  rescue  of  Emin  Pasha  in  1887. 
Emin  Pasha,  originally  a  German  physician  who  had  been  in  the  Turkish  ser- 
vice, entered  the  service  of  the  Khedive  of  Egypt  in  1876  as  surgeon  and  nat- 
uralist on  the  staff  of  General  Gordon,  who  had  just  been  appointed  Gov- 
ernor-General of  the  Soudan.  Two  years  after  Emin  was  made  Governor  of 
the  Equatorial  Province,  as  he  had  shown  great  talents  for  administration.  In 
a  very  short  time  he  had  swept  the  province  clear  of  the  slave  traders,  and 
reorganized  the  affairs  of  the  province.  After  the  success  of  the  Mahdi  in 
the  upper  part  of 
the  province,  and  the 
capture  of  Khar- 
toum, in  spite  of  the 
near  vicinity  of  the 
English  relief  expe- 
dition, Emin  was  put 
in  great  danger,  but 
he  refused  to  evacu- 
ate the  region,  and 
thus  remit  it  to  the 
renewed  domination 
of  barbarism  and  the 
slave  trade.  The 
European  world  be- 
gan to  be  apprecia- 
tive of  the  heroic 
and  noble  stand 
made  by  Emin  in  the 
very  heart  of  savage 
Africa,  and  the  final 

outcome  of  this   sentiment  was   the   relief  expedition  which  Stanley  gallantly 
offered  to  lead  as  a  matter  of  love,  not  of  reward. 

The  enterprise  was  one  of  stupendous  danger  and  obstacles.  Stanley 
made  for  the  Lake  Albert  Nyanza,  where  Emin  was  known  to  have  had  two 
steamers,  and  it  was  supposed  that  upon  reaching  the  lake  there  would  be 
litde  difficulty  in  communicating  with  the  Pasha  himself  Stanley,  however. 
reached  the  lake  with  only  173  men  out  of  341  with  which  he  started  out. 
Sickness,  starvation  and  the  poisoned  arrows  of  the  fierce  dwarfs  of  the  Congo 
forest  accounted  for  the  rest.  Stanley  at  length,  after  considerable  time 
and  difficulty,  met  Emin  ;  but  the  Pasha  could  not  be  induced  to  leave  equa- 
torial Africa,  and  so  render  his  past  work  useless.     Stanley  then  returned  to 

428a 


HENRY    M.    STANLEY. 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

bring  up  his  rear-guard,  about  whom  he  began  to  be  alarmed.     He  met  the 
forlorn  remains  of  it — one  white  officer  and  seventy-two  men  out  of  257. 

Again,  Stanley,  with  the  reunited  party,  started  to  traverse  the  savage  and 
hostile  region  which  he  had  crossed  twice  before,  but  so  terrible  had  been  the 
punishment  which  he  had  inflicted  on  his  assailants  that  his  last  march  was 
not  seriously  hampered  by  foes,  though  imminently  threatened  by  starvation. 
But  the  leader's  heroic  energy  and  endurance  vanquished  everything,  and  he 
finally  reached  the  lake  for  the  third  time,  eight  months  after  he  had  left  it. 
Fortune  was  again  on  the  side  of  his  failure.  Strange  things  had  happened 
during  eight  months.  Emin's  Egyptian  officers  had  revolted  against  him,  and 
placed  him  and  Mountenay  Jephson,  Stanley's  assistant,  who  had  left  with  the 
Pasha,  in  confinement.  At  this  time  there  appeared  a  fresh  irruption  of  the 
Mahdists.  The  ultimate  result  was  to  so  terrify  Emin's  rebellious  people  that 
the  Pasha  and  his  companion  were  released,  and  all  were  willing  to  accept 
Stanley's  escort  to  the  sea-coast. 

Emin  Pasha  did  not,  however,  stay  long  with  his  rescuer.  He  seemed 
apparently  to  have  enjoyed  his  life  in  the  Soudan,  and  he  longed  to  return.  He 
had  ruled  there  over  a  large  extent  of  territory,  and  a  submissive,  if  not  at- 
tached, population.  He  had  a  small  standing  army,  plenty  of  ivory,  and  al- 
though in  the  desert,  he  reigned  lii<e  a  prince.  After  his  rescue,  therefore,  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  return.  Although  England  had  furnished  the  expedition 
which  went  to  his  relief  he  preferred  to  take  service  under  Germany,  and  go 
back  under  its  auspices  to  the  province  over  which  he  had  ruled. 

Emin  Pasha  was  born  of  Jewish  parents  in  Prussian  Silesia,  March  24th, 
1840.  He  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age,  was  adopted  by  a  Protestant 
family  and  baptized  in  the  Christian  faith.  In  1869  he  entered  the  service  of 
the  Turkish  government.  He  subsequently  went  with  Chinese  Gordon  to  the 
Soudan  as  medical  officer;  and  when  Gordon  left  the  Soudan  in  1879  he 
placed  Emin  in  charge  of  the  Egyptian  Equatorial  Provinces  as  their  Gov- 
ernor, a  position  which  he  retained  until  his  rescue  out  of  the  Mahdi's  clutches 
by  Stanley. 

■i'lSb 


ASIA. 


Now  upon  Syria's  land  of  roses 
Softly  the  light  of  eve  reposes, 
And  like  a  glory  the  broad  sun 
Hangs  over  sainted  Lebanon  ; 
Whose  head  in  misty  grandeur  towers, 
And  whitens  with  eternal  sleet. 
While  summer,  in  a  vale  of  flowers, 
Is  sleeping  rosy  at  his  feet." 

E  will  now  turn  to  Asia,  the  cradle  of  the 
human  race. 

The  most  important  event  in  all  his- 
tory was  the   birth   of  Christ,  and  the 
country  hallowed  by  his  footsteps  has  re- 
ed, and  always  will  retain,  the  name  of  the 
Holy  Land. 

From  the  earliest  ages  of  authentic  histor)', 
Palestine  (with  whose  ancient  and  sacred  history  every  reader  is  familiar)  has 
been  the  object  of  curiosity  at  once  ardent  and  enlightened.  Since  the  time 
that  Abraham  crossed  the  Euphrates  (3.780  years  ago),  a  solitary  traveller, 
down  to  the  recent  massacres  in  that  unhappy  country,  Syria  has  been  looked 
upon  with  greater  attention,  and  described  with  greater  accuracy  and  minute- 
ness, than  any  other  portion  of  the  ancient  world. 

Syria  is  at  the  present  day  governed  by  the  Turks,  and,  like  every  other 
country  under  their  sway,  is  stamped  with  an  aspect  of  desolation  and  decay. 
The  term  Syria  is  now  applied,  not  only  to  what  anciently  bore  that  name,  but 
to  Palestine  also. 

The  holv  places  of  Palestine  are    eleven  in  number,  the  possession  of 
'     ^  (429) 


430  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

which  by  the  different  sects  of  Christians  and  Mussuhnans  has  been  the  cause 
of  many  deplorable  catastrophes,  and  will  be  of  many  more.  It  overthrew 
the  Byzantine  empire,  rent  Christendom  asunder,  and  was  the  origin  of  the 
Crimean  war.  The  jealousy  is  carried  to  such  an  e.xtent  in  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  to-day  that  they  bribe  the  Turks  to  oppress  each  other;  and 
were  it  not  that  a  Turkish  guard  is  always  present  in  the  church,  which  is 
common  to  all  Christians,  they  would  tear  one  another  to  pieces ! 

The  holy  places  are:  i.  The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  which  covers 
some  twelve  or  thirteen  places  consecrated  to  more  than  ordinary  veneration 
by  being  in  some  way  connected  with  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the 
Saviour:  this  is  common  to  all  Christians.  2.  The  Church  of  the  Nativity  at 
Bethlehem,  which  is  likewise  common.  3.  The  Church  of  the  Presentation 
at  Jerusalem — Mahometan.  4.  The  Church  of  the  Annunciation  at  Nazareth 
— Latin  Christians.  5.  The  Church  of  St.  Peter  at  Tiberias — Latin.  6. 
Church  at  Cana  in  Galilee — Greek  Christians.  7.  Church  of  the  Flagellation 
at  Jerusalem — Latin.  8.  Church  of  the  Ascension,  Mount  Olivet — Mahome- 
tan. 9.  Tomb  of  the  Virgin,  valley  of  Jehoshaphat — common.  10.  Grotto 
ofGethsemane — Latin.      11.  Church  of  the  Apostles — Mahometan. 

Stanley,  an  Eastern  traveller,  writes  that  "  there  is  one  approach  to  Jeru- 
salem which  is  really  grand,  namely,  from  Jericho  and  Bethany.  It  is  the  ap- 
proach by  which  the  army  of  Pompey  advanced — the  first  European  army  that 
ever  confronted  it — and  it  is  the  approach  of  the  triumphal  entry  of  the  Gos- 
pels. Probably  the  first  impression  of  every  one  coming  from  the  north,  west 
and  the  south  may  be  summed  up  in  the  expression  used  by  one  of  the  mod- 
ern travellers,  '  I  am  strangely  affected,  but  greatly  disappointed.'  But  no 
human  being  could  be  disappointed  who  first  saw  Jerusalem  from  the  east. 
The  beauty  consists  in  this,  that  you  then  burst  at  once  on  the  two  great  ra- 
vines which  cut  the  city  off  from  the  surrounding  table-land,  and  that  then, 
and  then  only,  you  have  a  complete  view  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar." 

The  only  Christian  monument  in  Jerusalem  of  any  importance  is  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

This  church  is  surmounted  by  two  domes  of  different  dimensions,  the  larger 
surmounting  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  smaller  the  Greek  church, 
on  the  site  of  the  basilica  erected  by  the  Emperor  Constantine  in  the  fourth 
century. 

Close  beside  the  dome  stands  the  Minaret  of  Omar,  which  that  mag- 
nanimous caliph  erected  that  he  might  have  the  privilege  of  praying  as  nearly 
as  possible  to  the  church  without  interfering  with  the  rights  of  the  Christians. 
As  you  enter  the  door  of  these  sacred  walls,  the  first  object  that  strikes  your 
attention  is  a  large,  flat  stone,  over  which  several  lamps  are  suspended,  and 
numerous  pilgrims  approaching  on  their  knees  to  kiss  it.  This  is  called  the 
Stone  of  Unction,  where  the  Lord's  body  was  anointed  before  burial  by  the 


BIRTH    OF   CHRIST. 


(431) 


432  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

holy  women.  A  few  yards  off  is  a  circular  stone,  marking  the  spot  where 
the  Virgin  Mary  stood  during  the  anointment. 

Immediately  under  the  dome  stands  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  surrounded  by 
sixteen  large  columns,  which  support  the  gallery  above.  The  sepulchre  is  a 
small  building  containing  two  chambers,  built  or  incased  with  fine  marble ; 
you  are  expected  to  remove  your  shoes  previous  to  entering:  the  outer  cham- 
ber is  about  six  feet  by  ten,  in  the  middle  of  which  stands  a  block  of  polished 
stone,  about  a  foot  and  a  half  square,  where  the  angel  sat  who  announced  the 
glad  tidings  of  the  resurrection.  Through  another  passage  you  enter  the 
tomb  itself  Whether  this  be  or  be  not  the  genuine  tomb — and  we  see  no  rea- 
son to  doubt  it,  answering  as  it  does  in  every  particular  the  description  given 
it  in  holy  writ — it  is  impossible  to  enter  it  without  a  feeling  of  holy  awe  and 
reverence,  remembering  that  for  1,500  years  kings  and  queens,  knights  and 
holy  pilgrims,  here  have  knelt  and  prayed,  believing  it  to  be  the  identical  spot 
"  where  Christ  triumphed  over  the  grave,  and  disarmed  death  of  his  terrors." 
This  is  the  spot  pointed  out  to  the  mother  of  Constantine  by  the  persecuted 
Christians,  and  here  she  erected  a  church  ;  here  the  Latin  kings,  Godfrey  and 
Baldwin,  with  countless  numbers  of  knights  who  have  died  for  the  Holy 
Cross,  have  knelt  and  prayed.  Who  would  not  reverence  the  spot !  The 
tomb  is  about  six  feet  square  ;  one-half  of  it  is  Occupied  by  the  sarcophagus, 
which  rises  about  two  feet  from  the  floor;  this  is  of  white  marble,  slightly 
tinged  with  blue ;  that  is,  this  slab  covers  the  elevation  left  in  the  hewing  of 
the  rock,  which  was  the  custom  in  those  days.  The  marble  is  now  cracked 
through  about  the  centre.  On  this  stone  the  body  of  Christ  was  laid  ;  on  this 
stone  the  young  man  was  found  sitting;  and  here  Mary  saw  the  two  angels. 
There  are  forty-two  lamps,  gold  and  silver,  presented  by  sovereigns  of  Europe, 
suspended  above  it,  and  continually  burning.  At  the  head  of  the  tomb  stands 
a.  Greek  monk,  reading  prayers.  Here  continually  may  be  seen  poor  pilgrims 
crawling  in  upon  their  bended  knees,  bathing  tbe  cold  marble  with  their  tears, 
and  sobbing  as  if  their  hearts  would  break. 

According  to  a  letter  from  Jerusalem,  printed  in  a  recent  periodical, 
there  are  many  persons  in  the  city  who  hold  extreme  or  fanciful  views  on  re- 
ligious topics.  Eighteen  Americans,  it  is  said,  arrived  there  recently  to  await 
the  second  coming  of  the  Lord.  They  are  respectable,  educated  and  appar- 
endy  wealthy  persons,  and  are  to  be  followed  by  others.  For  many  years  a 
half-crazy  Englishman,  dressed  in  grave-clothes,  and  carrying  a  wooden  cross 
on  his  shoulders,  was  wont  to  address  crowds  of  people  in  the  market-places 
of  the  city.  He  recendy  died  of  feven  A  German  woman,  who  regarded 
herself  as  "  the  bride  of  Christ,"  and  who  had  prepared  cosdy  dresses  in 
which  to  receive  her  Lord,  went  away  to  the  Jordan  recently  and  never  re- 
turned. She  died,  and  was  buried  by  the  natives.  A  young  man  is  now  in 
Jerusalem  to  whom  it  has  been   revealed   that  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  is 


ASIA. 


433 


buried  in  what  is  known  as  the  Potter's  Field.  He  is  searching  for  it  assidu- 
ously. Another,  who  is  described  as  "a  rather  gendemanlike*' young  Jew." 
has  arrived  at  Jerusalem,  and  claims  to  be  the  Messiah. 

Syria  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Bible.  About  the  time  of  Christ  it 
became  a  Roman  province.  At  this  period  its  capital  was  Antioch,  which  was 
one  of  the  most  splendid  cities  in  the  world.  Damascus,  another  city  of 
Syria,  136  miles  northward  of  Jerusalem,  appears  to  have  been  known  ever 
since  the  time  of  Abraham.     This  city  was  famous  in  later  times  for  making 


CHURCH    OF    THE    HOLY    SEPULCHRE. 


the  best  swords,  sabres  and  other  cutlery ;  but  the  art  which  the  people  once 
possessed  is  now  lost.  The  inhabitants  of  this  city  were  also  celebrated  for 
manufacturing  beautiful  silks,  to  which  the  name  of  damask  was  given,  from 
the  place  where  they  were  made.  Another  place  in  Syria  mentioned  in  the 
Bible  was  Tadmor,  sometimes  called  "  Tadmor  in  the  Desert ; "  this  was  built 
by  Solomon  for  the  convenience  of  his  traders;  it  was  ten  miles  in  extent,  but 
it  is  now  in  ruins.  The  splendid  remains  of  this  place,  consisting  of  columns 
and  other  things  beautifully  sculptured  in  stone,  show  that  it  must  have  been 
a  rich  and  powerful  city.  In  modern  times  it  is  called  Palmyra. 
28 


434  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

At  the  distance  of  thirty-seven  miles  north-west  of  Damascus  are  the  re- 
mains of  Baalbec,  a  very  splendid  city  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  and  then 
called  Heliopolis.  It  is  now  in  ruins,  and  contains  scarcely  more  than  a  thou- 
sand inhabitants. 

It  has  been  said,  that  "  if  all  the  ruins  of  ancient  Rome  that  are  in  and 
around  the  modern  city  were  gathered  together  in  one  group,  they  would  not 
equal  in  extent  the  ruins  of  Baalbec. 

"  No,  not  in  Egypt's  ruined  land, 
Nor  'mid  the  Grecian  isles, 
Tower  monuments  so  vast,  so  grand, 
As  Baalbec's  early  piles ; 
Baalbec,  thou  City  of  the  Sun, 
Why  art  thou  silent,  mighty  one?" 

Along  the  border  of  the  Mediterranean  sea  lay  what  was  known  in  ancient 
times  as  Phoenicia.  It  contained  the  cities  of  Tyre,  Sidon,  Ptolemais  and  other 
celebrated  places.  Tyre  is  probably  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities  of  the 
world,  having  been  founded  2,700  years  before  the  Christian  era.  It  contains 
a  population  of  4,000  inhabitants,  half  Christians  and  half  Mahometans.  The 
present  town  of  Sidon  consists  of  a  few  narrow  and  dirty  streets,  and  presents 
nothinof  of  interest  to  the  traveller.  Ptolemais  is  now  called  Acre.  It  was 
besieged  by  Bonaparte  in  1799,  and  he  would  have  carried  it  but  for  the  arrival 
of  Sir  Sydney  Smith,  the  British  general. 

Arabia  consists  of  several  separate  states  or  nations.  The  whole  country 
is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Palestine,  Mesopotamia,  etc. ;  on  the  east  by  the 
Persian  gulf  and  the  Gulf  of  Ormuz ;  on  the  south  by  the  Indian  ocean,  and 
west  by  the  Red  sea.  The  Arabs  have  always  been  wandering  tribes,  and 
have  dwelt  in  tents,  amid  the  trackless  deserts  which  cover  a  large  portion  of 
their  country.     Their  early  history  is  very  imperfectly  known. 

To  the  east  of  Syria  lie  the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  about  this 
region  was  Assyria,  the  first  of  the  great  empires  of  the  earth.  Ashur,  the 
grandson  of  Noah,  was  the  first  ruler  of  Assyria.  In  the  year  2221  B.  c,  that 
is,  before  Christ,  he  built  the  city  of  Nineveh,  and  surrounded  it  with  walls  a 
hundred  feet  high.  It  was  likewise  defended  by  fifteen  hundred  towers,  each 
two  hundred  feet  in  height.  The  city  was  so  large  that  a  person  would  have 
travelled  sixty  miles  merely  in  walking  round  it.  In  the  year  606  b.  c,  the 
King  of  the  Medes  and  the  King  of  Babylon  united  their  forces  and  made  war 
on  Assyria.  They  captured  Nineveh  and  overturned  the  empire,  which  from 
this  time  became  extinct.  The  conquerors  completely  destroyed  Nineveh, 
and  in  a  few  centuries  it  was  almost  forgotten.  Its  site  became  a  mere  heap 
of  ruins,  and  these  were  at  last  so  covered  with  soil  that  the  place  where 
Nineveh  was  built  became  a  matter  of  doubt.     But  a  few  years  since,  an  Eng- 


ASIA. 


435 


lishman  by  the  name  of  Layard  caused  excavations  to  be  made  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Tigris,  near  the  present  town  of  Mosul,  and  here  he  found  the 
ruins  of  a  superb  palace,  supposed  to  be  that  of  Sennacherib.  This  spot  is 
now  known  to  be  the  site  of  the  ancient  Nineveh.  Many  curious  things  have 
been  found  here,  which  show  how  the  ancient  Assyrians  worshipped,  and  how 
they  made  war,  and  how  they  dressed  themselves,  and  many  other  interesting 
things. 

The  city  of  Babylon,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  south  of  Nineveh,  and 
which  was  founded  about  the  same  time  as  that  city,  was  superior  to  it,  both 


HILLAH,  ON   THE   EUPHRATES. 

in  size  and  beauty.  It  was  situated  on  the  river  Euphrates.  The  walls  were 
so  thick  that  six  chariots  drawn  by  horses  could  be  driven  abreast  upon  the 
top,  without  danger  of  falling  off  on  either  side. 

In  the  city  of  Babylon  there  were  magnificent  gardens,  belonging  to  the 
royal  palace.  They  were  constructed  in  such  a  manner  that  they  appeared 
to  be  hanging  in  the  air  without  resting  on  the  earth.  They  contained  large 
trees  and  all  kinds  of  fruits  and  flowers.  There  was  also  a  splendid  temple 
dedicated  to  Belus,  or  Baal,  who  was  the  chief  idol  of  the  Babylonians.  This 
temple  was  six  hundred  and  sixty  feet  high,  and  it  contained  a  golden  image 


436  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

of  Belus,  forty  feet  in  height.     A  modern  town  called  Hillah  has  been  built 
upon  the  place  where  Babylon  stood. 

Babylon  fell  before  the  conquering  arms  of  Cyrus,  the  King  of  Persia. 
Persia  itself  was  conquered  by  the  Saracens  a.  d.  632.  Persia  then  became  a 
part  of  the  Saracen  Empire.  It  was  ruled  by  the  caliphs,  who  resided  at  Bag- 
dad, a  splendid  city  which  they  built  on  the  river  Tigris.  This  celebrated 
place  was  founded  a.  d.  673,  and  once  contained  two  millions  of  inhabitants. 
It  was  then  filled  with  costly  buildings,  but  these  are  now  mostly  in  ruins. 
The  modern  city  is  poorly  built,  and  comparatively  insignificant. 

Bordering  upon  Persia  and  Hindostan  lies  the  far-famed  valley  of  Cash- 
mere. 

"  Who  has  not  heard  of  the  vale  of  Cashmere, 

With  its  roses,  the  brightest  that  earth  ever  gave, 
Its  temples  and  grottos,  and  fountains  as  clear 

As  the  love-lighted  eyes  that  hang  over  the  wave? 
Oh !  to  see  it  at  sunset,  when  warm  o'er  the  lake 

Its  splendor  at  parting  a  summer  eve  throws. 
Like  a  bride  full  of  blushes  when  lingering  to  take 

A  last  look  in  her  mirror  at  night  ere  she  goes  !  " — Lalla  Rookh, 

Thus  sanof  the  bard  as  his  imagrination  wandered  aloncr  the  banks  of  the 
Indus,  among  Persian  bowers  and  through  the  delightful  valley  of  Cashmere. 
Who  can  wonder  that  his  soul  went  out  in  rapture  over  the  scenes  that  met 
his  bewildered  gaze  within  this  mountain-walled  region  ?  Its  history  goes 
back,  through  colossal  monuments,  chiefly  of  marble,  beyond  the  dawn  of 
authentic  annals.  Still  its  beauty  has  caused  it  to  be  the  scene  of  many  a 
strucTorle. 

The  climate  of  Persia  is  mild,  and  the  country  abounds  in  beautiful  and 
fragrant  trees,  shrubs  and  flowers.  The  people  are  less  warlike  than  in  former 
times.  The  rich  live  in  splendid  palaces,  and  the  poor  in  mud  huts.  The 
kingdom  is  small  compared  with  the  vast  empire  of  Xerxes.  Persepolis,  the 
ancient  capital,  is  now  a  heap  of  ruins.  Teheran  and  Ispahan,  the  two  prin- 
cipal cities,  are  of  comparatively  modern  date.  The  king  generally  resides  in 
the  city  of  Teheran.  But  he  has  a  beautiful  palace  at  Ispahan,  called  the 
Palace  of  Forty  Pillars.  Each  of  the  forty  pillars  is  supported  by  four  lions  of 
white  marble.  The  whole  edifice  looks  as  if  it  were  built  of  pearl  and  silver 
and  gold  and  precious  stones 


AVENUE  OF  TEMPLES. 


INDIA. 


H''/f^Si^  F  the  earliest  period  of  the  history  of  India  little  is  known  with  cer- 
?^'iMH^'w^      taintv.     The  sacred  writings  of  the  Hindoos  give  to  their  ancient 


history  an  incredible  chronology,  extending  over  millions  of  years, 
and  treat  of  heroes,  kings  and   dignitaries,  in    most   instances 
^^  probably  merely  mythical  or  fabulous.     Jt  is  the  general  opinion  of 

)^  the  best  authorities  that  the  Hindoos  were  not  the  first  inhabitants  of 
the  country,  but  were  an  invading  race,  who  subdued  and  enslaved  the 
aborigines,  who  are  still  represented  by  rude  tribes  in  the  central  and  south- 
ern parts  of  India. 

It  is  not  known  at  what  period  this  invasion  took  place,  but  it  was  un- 
doubtedly prior  to  the  fourteenth  century  u.  c.  The  language  of  the  con- 
querors was  probably  the  Sanskrit,  in  which  their  sacred  books  were  written. 
The  Vedas,  supposed  to  have  been  compiled  about  the  fourteenth  century 
B.  c,  are  esteemed  the  holiest. 

(437) 


438  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

Two  great  dynasties — the  kings  of  the  race  of  the  sun,  and  the  race  of  the 
moon — figure  in  the  legends  of  their  early  histor>^  and  their  contests  are  re- 
corded in  the  poem  known  as  the  "  Mahabharata."  The  most  celebrated  of 
these  sovereigns  was  Rama,  or  Ramchunder.  who  is  supposed  to  have  lived 
in  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century  b.  c.  His  deeds  are  the  subject  of  the 
great  epic  poem,  the  "  Ramayana."  The  "  Ramayana  "  is  the  oldest  of  all  epic 
poems.  The  "  Mahabharata  "  contains  two  hundred  thousand  sixteen-syllable 
lines,  and  fills  four  thick  quarto  volumes. 

The  first  event  in  the  history  of  India  of  which  we  have  an  authentic  ac- 
count was  the  invasion  by  the  Persians,  under  King  Darius,  about  518-521 
B.  c.  Long  before  the  invasion  of  India  by  Alexander  the  Great,  the  Greeks 
travelled  there  in  search  of  knowledge ;  for  there,  more  than  two  thousand 
four  hundred  years  ago,  says  Voltaire,  "  the  celebrated  Pilpay  wrote  his  moral 
fables,  that  have  since  been  translated  into  all  languages.  All  subjects  what- 
ever have  been  treated,  by  way  of  fable  or  allegory,  by  the  Orientals,  and 
particularly  the  Indians."  Hence  it  is  that  Pythagoras,  who  studied  among 
them,  and  Pachymeres,  a  Greek  of  the  thirteenth  century,  expressed  them- 
selves in  the  spirit  of  Indian  parables. 

India  had  long  been  subject  to  the  Persians,  and  Alexander,  the  avenger 
of  Greece  and  the  conqueror  of  Darius,  led  his  army  into  that  part  of  India 
which  had  been  tributary  to  his  enemy.  Though  his  soldiers  were  averse 
to  penetrating  into  a  region  so  remote  and  unknown,  Alexander  had  read  in 
the  ancient  fables  of  Macedonia  that  Bacchus  and  Hercules,  each  a  son  of 
Jupiter,  as  he  believed  himself  to  be,  had  marched  as  far,  so  he  determined 
not  to  be  outdone  by  them  ;  and  thus  the  year  327  b.  c.  saw  his  legions  enter- 
ing India  by  what  is  now  called  the  Candahar  route,  the  common  track  of  the 
ancient  caravans  from  northern  India  to  Agra  and  Ispahan,  after  encountering 
incredible  difficulties,  and  surmountingr  innumerable  dano^ers. 

"  Few  great  things  have  had  a  smaller  beginning  than  that  stupendous 
anomaly,"  the  British  Empire  in  India.  It  was  in  the  course  of  161 2,  in  the 
reign  of  James,  that  the  agents  of  the  company  timidly  established  their  first 
little  factory  at  Surat.  At  this  period,  the  nominal  sovereigns  of  the  whole  of 
India,  and  the  real  masters  and  tyrants  of  a  good  part  of  it,  were  the  Ma- 
hometanized  Mogul  Tartars — a  people  widely  different  in  origin,  manners, 
law  and  religion  from  the  Hindoos,  the  aboriginal  or  ancient  inhabitants  of 
the  country. 

In  1744,  France  and  England  being  at  war  in  Europe,  hostilities  broke  out 
between  the  English  and  French  in  India.  Clive  came  to  the  front  on  the 
part  of  the  former,  while  Bussy  displayed  admirable  generalship  on  the  part 
of  the  latter.  In  the  year  1756  Surajah  Dowlah  seized  upon  Calcutta,  and 
clapped  146  of  the  English  into  the  "Black  Hole,"  where  all  but  twenty-three 
persons  perished  in  a  single  night  by  suffocation. 


INDIA.  439 

The  student  of  the  modern  history  of  India  is  familiar  with  the  names  of 
Warren  Hastings,  who  was  elected  governor-general  of  India,  Hyder  Ali,  and 
his  son,  Tippoo  Saib.  Lord  Cornwallis,  who  figured  so  prominently  during 
our  War  of  Independence,  conducted  a  war  against  Tippoo  Saib  with  such  en- 
ergy that  he  compelled  the  latter  to  cede  about  one-half  of  his  dominion  and 
to  pay  in  money  $16,000,000.  In  the  war  which  broke  out  in  1803  between 
the  English  and  the  Mahrattas,  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
of  the  future  and  hero  of  Waterloo,  did  signal  service,  making  a  name  that 
was  afterward  to  be  emblazoned  on  the  bead-roll  of  illustrious  warriors. 

The  annexation  of  Sinde,  in  1843,  was  followed  by  the  wars  with  the 
Sikhs,  who  had  been  organized  into  a  powerful  military  state  by  their  great 
sovereign,  Runjeet  Singh.  These  hostilities  led  to  the  annexation  by  the 
English  of  the  Punjaub. 

The  next  important  event  in  the  history  of  India  was  one  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  mankind  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  forms,  unquestion- 
ably, the  most  impressive  incident  in  the  annals  of  British  India.  This  was 
the  great  Sepoy  revolt. 

The  year  1857-8  was  the  Hindoo  sumbut  1914,  in  which  fell  the  centenary 
of  Plassy,  and  Hindoo  astrologers  had  long  predicted  that  in  this  year  the 
power  of  the  East  India  Company  would  terminate  for  ever.  In  the  early 
part  of  1857  it  became  apparent  that  a  mutinous  spirit  had  crept  into  the 
Bengal  army.  The  military  authorities  had  resolved  to  arm  the  Sepoys  with 
Enfield  rifles,  and  a  new  kind  of  cartridge,  greased,  in  order  to  adapt  it 
to  the  rifle-bore,  was  introduced  into  many  of  the  schools  of  musketry  in- 
struction. A  report  spread  among  the  native  troops  that,  as  the  cartridges  in 
loading  had  to  be  torn  with  the  teeth,  the  government  was  about  to  compel 
them  to  bite  the  fat  of  pigs  and  of  cows,  the  former  of  which  would  be  a  de- 
filement to  a  Mussulman,  and  the  latter  would  be  a  sacrilege  in  the  eyes  of  a 
Hindoo.  The  wildest  excitement  prevailed  for  a  time,  but  the  substitution  of 
the  old  for  the  new  cartridges  temporarily  prevented  an  outbreak.  Mean- 
while, though  the  greased  cartridges  had  not  been  used  elsewhere,  the  cry  of 
danger  to  caste  and  creed  was  raised  in  many  other  stations.  Disturbances 
occurred  on  February  19th  at  Burrampoor,  on  March  29th  at  Barrachpoor, 
where  the  first  blood  of  the  revolt  was  shed— the  leader  in  the  revolt  being  a 
private  Sepoy  in  the  Thirty-fourth  Regiment,  named  Mungal  Pandy— and 
April  24th  at  Meerut. 

On  May  loth  a  formidable  rising  took  place  at  the  latter  station.  The 
Europeans  were  massacred,  and  the  mutineers  marched  to  Delhi,  where  the 
garrison  fraternized  with  them,  and  a  second  butchery  was  committed.  In 
the  north-west  provinces  simultaneous  risings  took  place,  and  Benares,  the 
sacred  city  on  the  Ganges,  was  in  revolt  on  June  4th.  On  June  27th  took 
place  the  horrible  massacre  at  Cawnpore,  under  Nana  Sahib,  Rajah  ol  Bit- 


440 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


hoor.  Lucknow,  the  capital  of  Oude,  mutinied.  The  Punjaub  was  saved  by 
the  administrative  capacity  of  Sir  John  Laurence.  The  Presidency  of  Bombay 
was  but  litde  disturbed,  and  that  of  Madras  was  tranquil  with  scarcely  an  ex- 
ception. Delhi  was  stormed  September  14th,  after  a  siege  of  three  months. 
Two  sons  and  two  grandsons  of  the  king  were  made  prisoners  by  Captain 
Hodson,  who  shot  them  with  his  own  hand.  Cawnpore  and  Lucknow  were 
taken  from  the  rebels,  and  Gwalior  was  the  last  great  battle  of  the  campaign. 
The  whole  population  was  disarmed  in  the  course  of  the  spring  and  summer. 
One  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-seven  forts  were  destroyed,  and 
1,367,406  stand  of  arms  captured.  Of  the  number  of  Europeans  killed  and 
wounded  during  this  mutiny  no  accurate  estimate  can  be  procured.  Hundreds 
of  English   women  and  children  were  put  to  death  after  the  most  horrible 


outrages. 


During  the  mutiny  of  1857,  the  British  garrison  in  Lucknow,  numbering 
about  1,700  men,  was  besieged  by  about  10,000  mutineers.  After  twelve 
weeks'  defence,  during  which  the  British  lost  Sir  Henry  Laurence,  their  com- 
mander, and  suffered  from  the  ravages  of  cholera,  small-pox  and  fevers  scarcely 
less  than  from  fire  and  assaults  of  the  enemy,  Generals  Havelock  and  Outram 
fought  their  way  in  with  a  relieving  force,  September  25th.  The  defence  was 
now  resumed  with  fresh  vigor,  Sir  James  Outram,  as  senior  officer,  taking  the 
command.  On  November  17th,  Sir  Colin  Campbell  reached  the  city  with  re- 
inforcements. A  k\v  days  later  the  residency  was  evacuated,  the  British 
withdrawing  by  night  to  the  Dilkoosha,  where,  on  the  25th,  Sir  Henry  Have- 
lock died  of  dysentery.  General  Outram  was  left  with  a  division  at  Alum- 
bagh — the  king's  summer  palace,  about  four  miles  from  the  residency — to 

watch  the  enemy,  and  the 
rest  retired  in  safety  to 
Cawnpore.  In  January, 
1858,  Outram  was  subjected 
to  desperate  attacks  at  the 
Alumbagh  by  30,000  rebels, 
whom  he  defeated  with 
about  one-tenth  that  num- 
ber of  troops  ;  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 2 1st,  with  six  guns, 
and  not  quite  400  men,  he 
routed  another  force  of  20,- 
000  troops. 

In    the     meantime     the 
insurgents       had      fortified 
Lucknow,  and  occupied  it  with  a  large  force.     Early  in  March  they  were  be- 
sieged by  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  who  effected  a  partial  entrance  on  the  4th ;  but 


LUCKNOW. 


INDIA. 


441 


the  capture  was  not  complete  until  the  21st,  when  the  city  was  abandoned  by 
the  enemy. 

One  of  the  most  striking  events  of  this  struggle  was  the  endino-  of  the 
great  Mogul  Empire  in  India. 

The  first  of  the  Moguls  who  figures  in  Indian  history  was  the  great 
Tamerlane,  who,  in  1398,  overran  Bengal,  captured  Delhi  and  fixed  upon  it 
as  his  seat  of  government.  But  he  never  completed  the  subjugation  of  the 
country  ;  other  conquests  and  designs  called  him  away,  and  it  was  reserved 
for  his  descendant,  Zahir  Eddin  Mahomet  Baber,  to  complete  what  Timour  had 
begun,  and  to  be  the  founder  of  the  Mogul  dynasty  in  India  in  the  year  15 19. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  power  and  prosperity  of  the  Moguls  at- 
tained their  height ;  but  toward  its  end  the  tide  of  the  Mogul  power  began  to 


BOMBAY. 


ebb.  In  the  eighteenth  century  rebellion  broke  out  in  different  portions  of 
India,  and  the  idiabitants  obtained  their  independence.  The  Persians  also 
invaded  Bengal,  captured  Delhi,  massacred  the  inhabitants  and  bore  away 
plunder  to  the  amount  of  $600,000,000.  Meanwhile,  the  English,  who  had 
outstripped  all  their  European  competitors  in  India,  were  rapidly  mcreasmg 
.  in  power ;  and  the  result  of  the  now  inevitable  struggle  between  the  Mogul 
Empire,  under  a  succession  of  effete  and  incapable  monarchs.  and  the  East 
India  Company,  represented  by  such  men  as  Clive,  Hastings,  Coote,  Welles- 
ley  and  Lake,  could  not  be  long  doubtful.  _ 

At  length,  in  1803,  the  Mogul  emperors  became  simply  pensioners  ot  the 
British  East  India  Company.  The  last  emperor,  Abul  Muguffer.  became 
monarch  in  1837,  but  was  then  past  his  si.xtieth  year,  and  he  held  his  empty 
tide  merely  by  British  sufferance. 


442  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

But  when  the  terrible  mutiny  of  1857  broke  out,  the  revoked  Sepoys 
flocked  into  Delhi  from  the  adjacent  stations,  and  proclaimed  his  restoration 
to  the  throne  of  his  fathers. 

Accordingly,  when  Delhi  was  stormed  on  the  14th  of  September,  the  first 
care  of  the  British  was  to  possess  themselves  of  the  person  of  the  aged  mon- 
arch, who,  with  a  crowd  of  terror-stricken  followers,  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
tomb  of  his  ancestor,  Humayun.  Never  was  the  capture  of  an  emperor  ef- 
fected under  such  extraordinary  circumstances.  No  successful  rival,  sur-, 
rounded  by  his  adherents  ;  no  victorious  general  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  was 
there  to  demand  his  sword.  The  handful  of  conquerors  were  scattered  far  and 
wide  over  the  vast  city  they  had  just  captured ;  and  a  single  British  subaltern 
rode  to  the  entrance  of  the  tomb,  and  dragged  forth  the  last  of  the  Moguls 
from  among  the  cowering  multitude  that  dared  not  lift  a  hand  in  his  defence. 

Let  the  historian  of  the  Sepoy  war  describe  the  scene  :  "  So  Hodson  went 
forth  and  stood  before  all,  in  the  open  space  near  the  beautiful  gateway  of 
the  tomb,  a  solitary  white  man  among  so  many,  awaiting  the  surrender  of  a 
king,  and  the  total  extinction  of  a  dynasty  the  most  magnificent  that  the  world 
had  ever  seen.  It  was  then  but  a  title,  a  tradition;  but  still  the  monarch  of 
the  Moouls  was  a  livingr  influence  in  the  hearts  of  the  Mahometans  of  India. 
And  truly  a  grander  historical  picture  was  rarely  seen  than  that  of  the  single 
British  subaltern  receiving  the  sword  of  the  last  of  the  Mogul  emperors  in 
the  midst  of  a  multitude  of  followers  and  retainers,  grieving  for  the  downfall 
of  the  house  of  Tamerlane  and  the  ruin  of  their  own  fortunes." 

After  his  capture  he  was  tried  by  a  court-martial,  and  sentenced  to  trans- 
portation for  life,  Rangoon  being  chosen  as  his  place  of  exile.  He  died  there 
on  November  nth,  1862,  and  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  golden  pagoda  lie 
the-  remains  of  the  last  of  the  Great  Moguls. 

The  extreme  length  of  India,  from  north  to  south,  is  1,900  miles,  and  its 
extreme  breadth  from  east  to  west,  exclusive  of  British  Burmah,  about  1,700 
miles.  The  Empire  of  India,  with  its  feudatory  states,  embraces  a  territory 
of  1,556,836  square  miles,  with  a  population  of  not  less  than  two  hundred 
millions.  The  climate  varies  from  that  of  the  temperate  zone  in  the  Hima- 
layas to  the  tropical  heat  of  the  lowlands  ;  on  the  central  and  southern  table- 
lands the  climate  is  comparatively  mild,  the  thermometer  falling  as  low  as  the 
freezing  point  in  winter.  During  the  rainy  season  the  fall  of  rain  in  Bengal  is 
from  fifty  to  eighty  inches.  The  north-east  monsoon  begins  about  the  middle 
of  October,  and  brings  rain  from  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  which  falls  in  torrents  on 
the  Coromandel  coast  until  the  middle  or  end  of  December,  during  which 
period  the  opposite  coast  of  the  peninsula  enjoys  fair  weather  and  northerly 
breezes.  From  December  to  June  is  the  dry  season,  during  which  little  rain 
falls. 

In  many  districts  of  India  splendid  monuments  of  architecture  abound, 


INDIA. 


443 


mostly  the  work  of  past  ages,  and  many  of  remote  antiquity,  such  as  the  tem- 
ples of  Jain  and  Ajmeer,  and  elsewhere,  some  of  which  were  built  long  be- 
fore the  Christian  era,  and  are  distinguished  not  only  for  size  and  splendor  of 
ornamentation,  but  for  symmetry,  beauty  of  proportion  and  refinement  of 
taste.  The  mosques,  palaces  and  tents  erected  by  the  Mahometan  emperors 
are  the  finests  pecimens  of  the  Saracenic  style  of  architecture  in  the  world. 
Those  at  Agra,  Delhi  and  Lucknovv  are  especially  remarkable  for  their  deli- 
cacy, beauty  and  taste.  The  most  wonderful  structures  in  the  country  are 
probably  the  great  rock  temples  in  the  western  part  of  Deccan  and  those 
near  Bombay. 

A  bishop,  whose  exquisite  taste  enabled  him  to  appreciate  the  beauties  of 
Hindoo  architecture,  has  remarked:  "These  pagans  build  like  giants,  and 
finish  off  their  work  like  jewellers." 


HINDOO   GODS. 


Benares  is  celebrated  as  being  the  ecclesiastical  capital  of  the  Hindoos.  It 
has  been  appropriately  termed  the  Mecca  of  the  Hindoos.  A  true  Brahmin 
regards  it  as  the  holiest  spot  on  earth,  and  believes  that  future  blessedness  is 
secure  to  the  worst  of  men  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  die  withm  its  pre- 
cincts. Hundreds  of  invalids  are  brought  to  Benares  to  be  sanctified  by  so 
enviable  a  death.  Even  the  water  of  the  sacred  Ganges  is  holier  here  than 
elsewhere,  and  quantities  of  it  are  taken  from  the  ghauts  and  conveyed  by 
pious  pilgrims  to  every  part  of  India. 

Calcutta  is  the  principal  city  in  India,  and  has  been  termed,  on  account  ot 
its  magnificent  buildings,  "  The  City  of  Palaces."  The  two  other  great  cities 
of  India  are  Madras  and  Bombay. 


444  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

The  relio-ion  of  the  Hindoos  is  Brahminism,  which  teaches  them  that  there 
is  one  principal  deity,  called  Brahma,  and  several  other  inferior  deities,  called 
Vishnu,  Siva,  etc.  They  make  strange  images  of  these,  and  worship  them. 
The  priests  are  called  Brahmins,  and  instruct  the  people  in  many  vain  cere- 
monies and  cruel  superstitions. 

Vishnu,  however,  is  by  many  looked  upon  as  the  greatest  of  all  gods,  and 
many  remarkable  stories  are  told  of  him,  and  of  his  coming  into  this  world, 
which  shows  the  stupendous  character  of  the  Hindoo  mythology.  Once,  when 
a  child,  under  the  name  of  Krishna,  he  is  said  to  have  swallowed  some  dirt, 
and  his  brothers  ran  and  told  their  mother.  She  commanded  him  to  open  his 
mouth,  so  that  she  could  see  if  they  were  telling  the  truth.  He  opened  it, 
and  she  saw  there  The  Three  Worlds  !  ^ 

At  another  time  a  wicked  and  cruel  giant  had  obtained  supreme  control 
from  heaven  down  to  hell.  Vishnu  came  to  him  as  a  dwarf,  begging  alms. 
Bali,  the  giant,  contemptuously  asked  the  shrinking  beggar  what  he  wanted. 
Only  three  steps  of  the  great  giant's  dominions  were  timidly  asked. 

"  The  blinded  Bali,  mocking,  gave  assent. 

And  looked  upon  him  with  contemptuous  eye. 
Swift  grew  the  dwarf  through  such  immense  extent, 
That  one  step  spanned  the  earth,  one  more,  the  sky! 

"  Then,  looking  round,  with  haughty  voice  he  said, 
'  The  third  where  shall  I  take  ?     O,  Bali,  tell ! ' 
At  Vishnu's  feet  the  tyrant  placed  his  head. 
And  instantaneously  was  thrust  to  hell." 

It  is  also  said  that  once  Brahma,  Vishnu  and  Siva  had  a  dispute  as  to  which 
was  the  greatest.  Vishnu  said  that  he  would  yield  the  palm  of  greatness  to 
whoever  would  reach  to  the  crown  of  his  head  or  down  to  the  soles  of  his  feet. 
For  fifty  million  years  Brahma  soared  like  lightning  upwards,  and  Siva  like 
lightning  dived  downwards  for  the  same  length  of  time ;  but  the  one  could 
not  reach  the  head,  nor  the  other  the  foot.  As  a  consequence,  when  they  re- 
turned, they  both  paid  due  allegiance  to  Vishnu. 

The  "  Car  of  Juggernaut,"  or  (more  properly)  Jagannatha,  and  the  sup- 
posed enormous  loss  of  life  by  devotees  allowing  its  wheels  to  run  over 
them,  is  familiar  to  all  readers  of  the  life  and  religion  of  Hindostan  ;  but  the 
stories  of  it  have  no  real  foundation  in  fact.  These  misrepresentations  have 
been  repeated  until  they  have  received  implicit  credence  over  the  whole  globe, 
and  the  name  of  "Juggernaut"  is  associated  only  with  what  is  cruel  and 
sanguinary.  Whenever  there  is  a  sympathetic  murderous  destruction  of  hu- 
man life  to  be  denounced,  "Juggernaut"  becomes  the  type  of  such  acts,  and 
is  called  upon  to  do  duty  by  all  writers  and  public  speakers.  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  conceive  a  more  complete  perversion  of  the  truth ;  and  it  may  be 


INDIA. 


445 


Stated  that  Jagannatha  would  to  a  certainty  get  heavy  damages  in  any  court, 
were  he  to  prosecute  his  defamers. 

Jagannatha's  relation  to  the  Hindoo  mytholog>'  will  partly  explain  his  true 
nature.  He  is  one  of  the  manifestations  of  Vishnu,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the 
same  as  Krishna.  The  forms  under  which  Vishnu  is  worshipped  are  more  or 
less  connected  with  love,  while  the  manifestations  of  Siva  are,  on  the  con- 
trary, of  a  fierce  and  terrible  kind.  Had  the  character  given  to  Jacrannatha 
been  attributed  to  Siva,  something  like  justification  might  be  found  for  it. 

There  is  a  well-known  legend  which  illustrates  the  character  of  these  dei- 
ties. Among  the  innumerable  gods  of  the  Hindoo  Pantheon  a  discussion  had 
arisen  as  to  the  reputation  of  the  principal  personages.  One  of  the  Devas 
at  last  proposed  to  try  a  practical  test  by  which  the  matter  might  be  setded. 
So  he  went  up  and  kicked  Siva.  The  result  \yas  terrible ;  that  god  burst  into 
a  wild  passion  and  destroyed  millions  of 
worlds  before  he  calmed  down  again. 
The  Deva  then  kicked  Brahma.  This 
deity  became  angry ;  he  grumbled  and 
growled  a  little,  but  did  nothing  in  par- 
ticular. The  Deva  then  approached 
Vishnu,  who  was  asleep,  but  awoke  in- 
stantly on  being  kicked.  He  caught  the 
foot  that  had  given  the  blow  and,  stroking 
it  with  his  hand,  said  he  hoped  it  was  not 
hurt,  at  the  same  time  manifesting  a 
warm  anxiety,  as  if  he  had  been  the  cause 
of  pain  to  the  Deva,  or  as  if  he  had  done 
him  an  injury. 

Durine  the  Car  Festival  self-immola- 
tion  takes  place.  This,  also,  has  been  very 
much  exao-eerated.  Hamilton,  in  his 
"  Gazetteer,"  states,  "  that  during  the 
four  years  prior  to  1820  only  three  cases 
occurred,  one  said  to  be  accidental,  and 
the  other  two  to  get  rid  of  excruciating 

diseases  with  which  the  victims  were  tormented."  If  this  is  anything  like  a 
fair  estimate  of  the  death-rate,  there  need  be  no  hesitation  in  asserting,  on 
the  basis  of  statistics,  that  the  railroad  car  is  a  much  more  bloodthirsty  insti- 
tution than  the  car  of  Jagannatha. 

The  Thugs  derive  their  nomenclature  from  the  Hindoo  word  ///«^^;w.  which 
means  "  to  deceive,"  and  were  a  sect  of  assassins,  now  happily  exterminated 
by  the  British  government.  They  roamed  about  the  country  in  bands  of  Irom 
thirty  to  300,  and  strangled  to  death  such  persons  as  they  could  decoy  mto 


HINDOO    MUSICIAN. 


446  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

their  company.  Their  atrocious  practices  were  not  followed  so  much  from 
impulses  of  plunder  or  malice,  as  from  religious  motives.  They  were  wor- 
shippers of  the  goddess  Kali,  who  presided  over  sensual  indulgence  and  death. 

The  movements  of  the  professional  dancing-women  of  India  are  as  grace- 
ful as  they  are  wonderful.  Their  agility  is  something  marvellous,  and  their 
"chic"  if  occasionally  a  litde  too  expressive,  is  decidedly  fetching.  The 
nautch  or  dancing-girls  of  Calcutta  are  a  separate  and  distinct  corps  of 
dancers.  They  dress  in  massive  folds  of  silk  down  to  the  ground,  and  are 
decorated  with  a  profusion  of  jewelry — bracelets,  bangles  and  other  ornaments. 
Their  movements  are  wild  and  voluptuous,  but  seldom  pass  the  bounds  of 
modesty,  as  some  writers  have  stated. 

Another  class  of  dancers  are  the  egg-dancers — girls  who,  dressed  in  scanty 
but  gorgeous  attire,  place  eggs,  on  the  ends  of  sugar-canes  radiating  from  a 
circular  frame  adjusted  to  a  pad  on  the  head,  dancing  the  while  to  the  music 
of  the  tom-tom,  and  whirling  round  and  round  till  the  eyes  of  the  on-lookers 
become  o-iddy  in  the  gazing.  The  egg-dance  is  a  very  quaint  and  curious 
performance,  and  one  which  no  visitor  to  India  should  fail  to  see. 

The  Vale  of  Cashmere  is  undoubtedly  the  most  beaudful  and  picturesque 
landscape  in  the  world — a  vast  park,  some  ninety  miles  long  by  from  thirty 
to  forty  wide.  Everything  appears  arranged  by  a  superhuman  hand  to  de- 
light the  eye ;  fair  fields  and  habitations  ;  rivers  and  lakes  interspersed  with 
verdant  and  flowery  isles  ;  "  the  low  whispering  in  boats  "  of  all  shapes  and 
sizes,  plied  by  Hanjis  with  intelligent  countenances,  shapely  forms  and  costumes 
harmonizing  most  beautifully  with  that  enchanting  prospect;  coundess  streams 
and  canals  winding  alongr  through  wavinor-  rice-fields  and  green  banks,  whose 
limpid  and  rippling  waters  glisten  in  the  sun  like  bands  of  silver.  Hence  it  is 
that  Mogul  despots,  so  fierce  elsewhere,  seem  to  melt  into  human  beings  dur- 
ing their  sojourn  in  Cashmere.  These  tyrants,  like  Nero,  had  artistic  aspira- 
tions. Enchanted  with  the  beautiful  land,  they  took  pride  in  embellishing  it 
still  more  by  erecting  palaces  and  mosques,  arranging  terraces  and  laying 
out  parks  in  the  most  picturesque  sites,  and  by  liberally  rewarding  poets  for 
singing  the  delights  of  that  enchanting  abode.  No  wonder  the  Moguls  called 
it  the  earthly  paradise  of  the  Indies,  and  that  Akbar  strove  so  hard  to  wrest 
it  from  its  lawful  kings.  It  is  related  that  Jehan-Guir,  his  son  and  successor, 
.took  such  a  fancy  to  this  beaudful  region  that  he  could  never  leave  it,  and 
.that  he  declared  that  the  loss  of  his  crown  would  affect  him  less  than  that  of 
Cashmere. 

Through  the  influence  of  the  British  government  young  married  ladies 
have  no  longer  before  them  the  horrible  prospect  of  being  burned  to  death 
upon  the  funeral  piles  of  their  husbands.  This  inhuman  custom,  so  long  preva- 
lent in  this  region,  only  began  to  disappear  quite  recently,  for  in  1843,  o^i  the 
death  of  Soonchet-Sing,  uncle  of  the  Maharajah,  the  Jive  hundred  wives  which 


INDIA. 


447 


constituted  his  principal  harem  were  burned  alive  with  his  body  at  Ramnagar. 
and  twenty-five  others,  that  he  had  at  Jummoo,  shared  the  same  fate.  In  1863 
another  similar  immolation  took  place  at  the  violent  and  mysterious  death  of 
Jowahir-Singh,  the  Maharajah's  cousin.  Thirty-two  of  his  widows  were  con- 
sumed with  the  remains  of  their  late  husband.  On  another  occasion  a  solitary 
widow  is  described  by  an  English  tourist  as  sitting  on  a  funeral  pile  with  her 
husband's  head  upon  her  lap.  Seized  with  terror  at  the  approach  of  the  hiss- 
ing flames,  she  sprang  from  the  pile  and  sought  to  escape,  but  the  attending 
priests,  horrified  at  her  scandalous  conduct,  caught  her  and  threw  her  back 
upon  the  burning  pile,  where  she  perished,  uttering  screams  that  would  have 
moved  the  hardest  hearts. 


HINDOO  PRINCESS. 

The  Cashmerians  are  a  stout,  well-formed  people,  of  Hindoo  stock.  Their 
complexion  is  brunette,  and  the  women  are  very  handsome.  The  Mahometan 
women  are  seldom  seen  abroad,  and  then  so  closely  veiled  are  they  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  get  even  the  slightest  glimpse  of  their  hidden  beauties. 
The  Hanji  women,  on  the  contrary,  never  cover  their  faces,  and  are  remark- 
ably handsome  in  childhood ;  but  as  they  soon  share  their  husband's  occupa- 
tion (that  of  boatmen),  and  live  mostly  in  the  open  air,  their  beauty  fades 
very  rapidly,  but  their  features  never  cease  to  be  attractive.  The  Cash- 
merians, as  a  rule,  are  brave,  active  and  industrious,  and  fond  of  music,  litera- 
ture and  art.  Their  lano-uaee  offers  many  curious  analogies  with  the  San- 
scrit,  but  their  songs  are  in  Persian. 


448  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

The  Hanji  class  is  that  with  which  tourists  are  brought  most  in  contact. 
They  are,  perhaps,  the  best  of  the  Cashmerians,  and  their  disposition  is  not 
unlike  that  of  the  Venetian  gondoliers.  There  is  the  same  charm  about  them, 
the  same  vivacity,  the  same  wealth  of  imagination.  The  Cashmerian  nobles 
find  much  pleasure  in  their  boats,  and  on  pleasant  evenings  may  be  heard 

"  Sounds  from  the  lake,  the  low  whispering  in  boats 

As  they  shoot  through  the  moonlight,  the  dipping  of  oars. 

And  the  wild,  airy  warbling  that  everywhere  floats 

Through  the  groves,  round  the  islands,  as  if  the  shores, 

Like  those  of  Kathay,  uttered  music,  and  gave 

An  answer  in  song  to  the  kiss  of  each  wave. 

But  the  gentlest  of  all  are  those  sounds  full  of  feeling 

That  soft  from  the  lute  of  some  lover  are  stealing — 

Some  lover  who  knows  all  the  heart-touching  power 

Of  a  lute  and  a  sigh  in  this  magical  hour." 

An  enthusiastic  author  thus  writes  concerning  India,  and  there  is  little  doubt 
but  that  he  has  simply  given  utterance  to  what  many  have  felt  who  have 
studied  the  literature  and  meditated  upon  the  history  of  its  remarkable 
people: 

"  Weary  of  the  misery  songs  of  the  Western  World,  weary  of  its  air  and 
steam  and  pain,  weary  of  polemics  and  wire-drawn  romance  and  faded  senti- 
ment! Art  thou  weary  of  all  this?  When  that  hour  comes  take  refuge  in 
India  of  the  olden  time,  where  the  gazelle  starts  in  the  quiet  noontide  at  the 
footstep  of  the  solemn-eyed  Brahmin.  In  the  infinitely  deep,  solemnly  joy- 
ful India,  where  man  for  the  first  and  last  time  declared  and  determined  to 
himself  what  was  eternal  truth,  and  in  that  faith  lived  and  died.  In  that 
glorious  India  which  gave  to  the  world  a  glorious  drama,  like  that  of  Shake- 
speare, and  the  most  perfect,  sublime  poem  ever  written,  in  the  Mahabahrata 
— a  poem  before  which  the  highest  flight  of  Milton  is  trifling  and  the  genius 
of  the  whole  West  feeble." 


THE  SACRED    ALTAR  OF    HEAVEN,    PEKIN. 


CHINA. 


*HE  territory  of  the  Chinese  Empire  is  nearly  the  same  at  the 
present  day  that  it  has  been  for  several  centuries.  It  is  bounded 
on  the  north  by  Asiatic  Russia,  on  the  east  by  the  Pacific 
ocean,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Chinese  sea  and  Farther  hidia. 
On  the  west  there  are  many  mountains  and  sandy  deserts, 
which  divide  it  from  Thibet  and  Tartary. 

This  empire  is  very  ancient,  and  has  continued  longer  than 
any  other  that  has  ever  existed.  It  is  the  most  populous  empire 
in  the  world,  containing  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  milhons 
of  people.  Its  history  goes  back  four  thousand  years  from  the  present  time. 
The  name  of  its  founder  was  Fohi,  whom  some  writers  suppose  to  have  been 
the  same  as  Noah. 

There  have  been  twenty-two  dynasties,  or  separate  families  of  emperors, 
who  have  successively  ruled  over  China.  Yet  few  of  the  emperors  did  any- 
thing worthy  of  remembrance. 

29  (^^^^ 


450  THE    GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

The  Emperor  Ching,  who  reigned  about  two  thousand  years  ago,  built  a 
great  wall  in  order  to  protect  his  dominions  against  the  Tartars.  It  was 
fbrtv-five  feet  hi<^h,  and  eighteen  feet  thick,  and  it  extended  over  mountains 
and  valleys,  a  distance  of  fifteen  hundred  miles.  This  wall  still  remains, 
thouo-h  in  a  ruinous  state.  When  Ching  had  completed  the  wall,  he  thought 
himself  so  very  great  an  emperor  that  none  of  his  predecessors  were  worth 
rememberinor.  He  therefore  ordered  all  the  historical  writings  and  public 
records  to  be  burnt.  He  also  caused  four  hundred  learned  men,  who  were 
addicted  to  writing  histories,  to  be  buried  alive.  Ching  survived  this  whole- 
sale destruction  but  a  short  time,  dying  after  an  illness  of  only  three  days,  in 
the  year  210  b.  c. 

From  this  time  the  empire  was  devastated  by  civil  wars,  and  dynasties  suc- 
ceeded each  other  with  great  rapidity.  There  were  fourteen  between  the  years 
207  B.  c.  and  A.  D.  1279.  At  this  time  Kubla  Khan  invaded  China  with  an  im- 
mense army  of  Tartars.  He  and  his  descendants  conquered  the  whole  em- 
pire, and  the  latter  governed  it  for  many  years. 

The  Emperor  Ching-tsa  ascended  thet  hrone  three  or  four  centuries  ago, 
A  mine  was  discovered  during  his  reign,  and  precious  stones  of  great  value 
were  dug  out  of  it.  Some  of  them  were  brought  to  the  emperor,  but  -he 
looked  scornfully  at  them.  "Do  you  call  these  precious  stones?"  cried  he. 
"  What  are  they  good  for?  They  can  neither  clothe  the  people,  nor  satisfy 
their  hunger."  So  saying,  he  ordered  the  mine  to  be  closed  up,  and  the 
miners  to  be  employed  in  some  more  useful  kind  of  labor. 

About  a  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  reign  of  Yong-tching,  there  was  the 
most  terrible  earthquake  that  had  ever  been  known.  It  shook  down  nearly 
all  the  houses  in  the  city  of  Pekin,  and  buried  one  hundred  thousand  people, 
A  still  greater  number  perished  in  the  surrounding  country. 

In  1840  a  war  between  Great  Britain  and  China  broke  out,  which  con- 
tinued for  two  years.  The  British  government  sent  an  expedition  against  the 
Chinese,  which  took  Canton  and  several  other  places.  The  war  continued 
till  1842,  when  peace  was  made.  Soon  after  a  treaty  of  commerce  was  made 
between  China  and  the  United  States.  Mr.  Cushing  went  to  China  and  nego- 
tiated this  treaty  on  the  part  of  our  country.  It  is  said  that  he  was  one  day 
invited  by  a  mandarin  to  dinner.  Mr.  Cushing  was  curious  to  know  what  a 
particular  dish  was,  and  not  speaking  Chinese,  inquired :  "  Quack  ? — quack, 
quack?  "  The  mandarin  understood  him,  and,  shaking  his  head  solemnly,  re- 
plied :  "  Bow-wow  !  " 

In  1852  a  great  insurrection  began  in  China,  headed  by  a  native  Chinese, 
Tae-ping-wang.  This  man  had  acquired  some  notion  of  the  Bible,  and  in  his 
proclamadons  he  set  forth  some  doctrines  similar  to  those  of  Christianity.  This 
rebellion  was  not  suppressed  until  July,  1864,  when  Nankin,  which  had  been 
made  the  rebel  capital,  was  taken,  and  Tae-ping-wing  committed  suicide.     Dur- 


CHINA. 


451 


ing  the  progress  of  this  rebellion,  China  was  for  a  short  time  engaged  in  wars 
with  England  and  France. 

The  most  famous  man  China  has  ever  produced  was  Confucius,  who  was 
born  about  five  hundred  years  before  Christ.  He  was  a  learned  man,  and 
had  many  disciples  or  scholars,  who  attended  his  lectures  and  travelled  about 
with  him.  He  composed  several  books,  which  are  held  in  great  reverence, 
even  to  this  day,  by  the  learned  Chinese. 

Pekin,  the  capital  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  was  built  many  centuries  before 
the  Christian  era,  though  the  exact  date  of  its  foundation  is  unknown.  Its 
name  signifies  the 
"Court  of  the  North." 
It  consists  of  four  dis- 
tinct divisions,  which 
are  distinguished  by  the 
following  names :  First, 
Kin-ching,  or  the  pro- 
hibited city,  containing 
only  the  palaces  of  the 
emperor  and  the  dwell- 
ings of  his  immediate 
retainers;  second, 
Hwang-ching,  or  the 
imperial  city;  third, 
Nin-ching,  surrounded 
by  a  wall  sixty  feet  high 
and  forty  feet  broad  at 
the  top;  fourth,  Wai- 
ching,  the  Chinese  city, 
with  a  wall  thirty  feet 
high  and  twelve  feet  in 
breadth.  In  the  prohib- 
ited city  are  many  arti- 
ficial lakes,  fountains, 
hanging  gardens,  pavil- 
ions and  flower-beds. 

Weird  legends  con- 
nected with  the  city  of 
Foo-chow    are     numer- 
ous.    It  is  said  that  a  king  of  Foo-chow  was  once  on  his  way  up  the  moun- 
tain-side,  attended  by  some  of  his  soldiers.     A  ver>'  holy  priest  ^was  sittmg 
with  his  legs  crossed,  in  devout  meditation,  direcdy  in  the  king's  path.     A 
soldier    commanded  him  to  get  out  of  the   way;   but  he  remained  miper- 


CHINESE  HANGING  GARDEN. 


452 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


turbably  in  his  place.  At  a  second,  and  more  vehement  command,  he  got  out 
of  the  way,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to  astonish  the  whole  company.  He 
rose  directly  up  into  the  air  for  a  considerable  distance.  The  king  begged  him 
to  descend,  and  promised  to  give  him  whatever  he  might  ask.  The  modest 
priest  responded  with  a  simple  request  for  as  much  ground  as  he  could  cover 


INTERIOR   OF   A   CHINESE  TEMPLE. 

with  his  robe.  This  was  readily  granted,  and  the  priest  began  to  spread  out 
his  robe,  when,  lo !  it  expanded  as  he  spread,  until  it  covered  the  whole 
mountain-side,  and  the  fields  below,  clear  to  the  river.  Thus  it  was  that  Koo- 
shan  became  consecrated  ground. 

In  a  shady  dell,  not  far  from  the  monastery,  is  a  trickling  rill,  with  high 
sides  of  precipitous  rock.     The  appearance  of  the  bed  of  the  rill  impresses 


CHINA.  453 

one  with  the  idea  that  it  must  some  time  have  been  a  stream  of  considerable 
size.  The  legend  is,  that  a  devout  priest  was  once  seated  in  meditation  near 
the  stream,  and  being  disturbed  by  the  noise  of  its  waters,  called  out,  "//a/t/" 
(Stop !)  Immediately  the  rush  of  waters  ceased,  and  ever  since  the  stream 
has  been  only  an  insignificant  rill. 

Another  legend  tells  how  a  pious  priest  died,  and  after  his  death  his  hair 
continued  to  grow.  Barber  after  barber  was  summoned  to  shave  it,  but  could 
not  succeed.  At  last  a  sister  of  his,  living  many  miles  away,  heard  of  the 
trouble,  and  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Koo-shan.  When  she  arrived  the  dead 
man  opened  his  eyes.  She  announced  her  purpose  of  shaving  his  head,  which 
she  did  with  entire  success.  She  promised  to  return  periodically  and  perform 
this  kind  office,  which  promise  she  faithfully  kept  until  she  was  sixty  years  old, 
when  she  asked  him  what  he  would  do  when  she  died.  The  old  man  made 
no  answer,  but  wept;  and  from  that  period  his  hair  ceased  to  grow. 

On  leaving  the  foreign  setdement  for  the  city,  which  is  three  miles  away, 
we  enter  upon  a  granite  bridge,  with  forty  solid  buttresses  placed  at  irregular 
distances,  and  connected  by  stones  three  feet  square,  and  varying  in  length 
from  twenty-five  to  forty-five  feet.  On  these,  as  sleepers,  are  laid  the  stones 
which  constitute  the  platform  of  the  bridge.  It  has  granite  railings,  mortised 
into  granite  posts.  For  nearly  a  thousand  years  has  this  bridge  resounded  to 
the  steady  tramp  of  the  multitudes,  crossing  and  recrossing ;  and  it  seems 
ready  for  another  thousand  years  of  service.  So  dense  is  the  throng  that  we 
sometimes  find  it  difficult  to  keep  our  footing.  Here  is  a  peddler  of  wonder- 
ful salve,  cutting  his  own  flesh  to  show  the  marvellous  curative  properties  of 
his  salve.  Here  is  a  dentist,  with  a  string  of  hundreds  of  teeth,  the  evidence 
of  his  skill.  He  pulls  no  teeth  with  cruel  forceps,  however,  but  puts  a  corrod- 
ing powder  about  the  tooth,  which  loosens  it  from  the  gum,  until  it  can  be 
taken  out  with  the  fingers.  Here,  too,  are  men  with  eyes  and  noses  eaten 
away  by  disease,  piteous  applicants  for  charity.  But  the  bridge  is  passed,  and 
we  plunge  into  the  main  street  leading  to  the  city.  It  is  only  about  ten  feet 
wide.  There  are  no  wagons  or  carriages.  All  the  carrying  of  persons  or 
goods  is  done  by  men.  The  coolies  carrying  the  sedan-chairs,  and  moving  at 
a  rapid  pace,  call  out  to  the  burden-bearers  who  are  in  the  way,  according  to 
the  burdens  carried,  either  "Slop-buckets,  out  of  the  way!"  or,  "Turnips,  to 
one  side  !  "  or,  "  Opium,  give  us  the  road  !  " 

Generally  the  crowd  is  good-natured,  but  once  in  a  while  there  will  occur 
a  brisk  fisticuff  battle  between  coolies  who  have  come  into  collision.  On 
either  side  the  street  are  stores  and  shops,  some  common  enough,  and  others 
handsome  and  elegant.  Swinging  signs  in  front  bear  such  high-sounding 
titles  as  "  Perpetual  Longevity,"  "  Myriad  Profits,"  "  Flourishing  Prosperity. ' 
Here  is  the  "  Eternal  Happiness  Oil-store,"  and  there  is  the  "  Celestial  Fra- 
grance Drug-store." 


454 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


In  time  of  a  lunar  eclipse,  the  people  turn  out  with  gongs,  drums,  old  tin 
pans,  and  anything  else  that  will  make  a  noise,  and  beat  away  with  great  vigor. 
If  the  eclipse  is  total,  as  the  darkness  increases,  the  pounding  becomes  more 
vehement  and  excited ;  and  when  the  whole  surface  is  obscured  the  din  is  per- 
fectly terrific.  Men  shout,  "Drum  away!  Pound  away!  The  dragon  has 
the  moon  all  inside  his  mouth  now.  If  we  don't  make  him  give  it  up,  it  will 
be  o-one  forever!"  Then,  as  more  and  more  of  the  moon's  surface  comes 
out  clear,  they  encourage  each  other  to  keep  on  until  the  dreaded  dragon  is 
compelled  to  yield  it  up  entirely.  When  finally  the  moon  sails  off  fair  and 
clear  through  the  heavens,  they  go  off  home  with  gongs  and  drums  under 


CHINESE   LOCOMOTION. 


their  arms,  in  the  happy  consciousness  of  duty  discharged,  and  congratulating 
one  another  that  the  moon  is  saved  for  future  usefulness. 

A  curious  wheelbarrow  used  by  the  Chinese  is  worth  noting.  The  vehicle 
is  weighted  upon  each  side,  and  requires  nice  adjustment  and  skill  in  its  use. 
Two  persons,  one  on  each  side,  balancing  the  other,  may  thus  travel.  Some- 
times an  improvised  sail  is  added  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  driver  in 
propelling  it. 

Of  the  moral  character  of  the  Chinese  it  may  be  said  that  they  are  a  very 
industrious  people,  and  habitually  gentle  in  their  manners  and  behavior;  but 
that,  with  a  curious  inconsistency  often  seen  in  heathen  nations,  their  punish- 
ments are  of  incredible  barbarity.     The  most  shocking  pictures  of  Chinese 


CHINA. 


455 


tortures  are  to  be  met  with,  such  indeed  as  are  enough  to  give  us  the  night- 
mare. What,  then,  must  be  the  strange  state  of  mind  of  those  who  inflict 
them. 

But  if  the  Chinaman  is  indifferent  to  torture  inflicted  on  criminals,  he  is 

equally  so  to  physical  pain  inflicted  on  those  he  may  be  supposed  to  love his 

female  children,  whose  little  feet  he  confines,  in  accordance  with  a  preposter- 
ous notion  of  beauty,  until  the  members  are  permanently  dwarfed.  Little 
feet  are  considered  a  distinguishing  beauty  of  Chinese  women,  and  a  walk 
like  that  which  may  be  supposed  to  belong  to  the  "  swaying  willow,"  is  their 
ideal  of  a  graceful  deportment. 

One  notable  event  of  1868  was  the  arrival  of  an  embassy  from  China,  the 


CHINESE    FAMILY. 


first  ever  sent  by  that  exclusive  empire  to  any  foreign  power.  Its  head  was 
Honorable  Anson  Burlingame,  an  American  citizen,  and  lately  his  country's 
representative  in  China.  ""He  had  so  commanded  the  confidence  of  the  Chi- 
nese government  that  the  emperor  had  induced  him  to  undertake  this  impor- 
tant mission,  not  only  to  the  United  States,  but  to  several  European  courts. 
The  Chinese  had  begun  to  cross  the  Pacific  in  great  numbers,  to  hnd  eniploy- 
ment  in  California  and  the  inland  mining  States.  A  treaty,  now  concluded  be- 
tween the  Asiatic  Empire  and  the  American  Republic,  guaranteed  security  ot 
life,  liberty  and  property  to  the  people  of  either  nation  while  in  the  territory 

of  the  other.  1  'ri  -k  h 

Formerly  Mongolia,  the  Corea,  Cochin  China,  Siam,  Burmah  and  Thibet 

were  all  tributary  to  China,  and  sent  ambassadors  to  Pek.n  to  acknowledge 


456  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

their  dependence.  Thus  China  was  completely  surrounded  by  a  chain  of 
smaller  tributary  states,  and  this  fact  helped  to  establish  the  belief  that  the 
Emperor  of  China  was  emperor  of  the  whole  world,  as  even  now  represented 
in  popular  editions  of  Chinese  maps,  on  which  China  occupies  nearly  the  whole 
sheet,  leaving  Japan,  the  Philippines  and  Europe  to  be  represented  by  small 
dots.  These  maps  are  accepted  and  thoroughly  believed  in  by  the  people  in 
the  interior  of  China.  The  belief  that  the  Emperor  of  China  rules  the  world, 
so  earnesdy  propagated  by  the  Chinese  officials,  found  additional  support 
from  the  fact  of  European  ambassadors  being  sent  to  Pekin  ;  these  being  un- 
derstood by  the  people  to  be  sent  like  the  ambassadors  of  these  tributary 
states  to  pay  respect  and  do  homage  to  the  Chinese  emperor. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Chinese  government  does  not  derive  much  pecu- 
niary gain  from  Thibet,  chiefly  in  duties  levied  at  Ta  tsien  lu  ;  still  it  is  a  mine 
to  the  Chinese  officials,  even  though  it  may  be  actually  a  burden  pecuniarily 
to  the  Chinese  government.  The  burden,  however,  is  compensated  for  by 
having  another  dominion  in  the  empire  for  the  sake  of  prestige,  and  this  is 
really  why  China  is  so  jealous  of  European  enterprise  entering  Thibet,  the 
Corea,  or  Tonquin. 

An  English  official  in  India,  once  desiring  to  see  the  real  color  of  the  Thi- 
betian  skin,  paid  the  parents  of  a  child  to  wash  it  in  hot  water,  several  waters, 
and  with  unlimited  soap.  Every  effort  was  vain,  the  skin  could  not  be  reached 
through  such  a  plating  of  dirt.  It  is  said,  with  every  show  of  truth,  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  wash  an  adult  Thibetan  down  to  the  skin.  The  beauty 
of  a  woman  in  Thibet  consists  in  her  being  stout,  broad,  thick-set  and  heavily 
membered,  and  the  accomplishments  to  be  desired  are  that  she  should  be 
above  all  things  audacious,  a  good  hand  at  a  bargain  and  also  an  adept  at 
repartee. 

In  Thibet,  if  a  man  of  means  dies  while  the  crops  are  standing,  it  would 
bring  hail  were  he  disposed  of  at  that  time,  so  he  is  pickled  to  await  the  har- 
vest. This  is  done  by  tying  his  head  between  his  knees  and  putting  him,  sur- 
rounded with  salt,  into  a  bag.  The  bag  is  put  in  a  basket,  and  the  basket  is 
sewn  up  well  in  cloth  to  prevent  unpleasantness,  and  he  is  placed  in  the  stable 
under  the  first  floor  to  await  the  suitable  day.  Then,  the  day  being  chosen 
for  his  incremation,  the  ecclesiastics  commence  their  prayers,  etc.,  as  many 
days  ahead  of  the  day  fixed  upon  as  the  wealth  of  the  family  will  allow.  The 
day  having  arrived,  he  is  cremated  on  a  pile  of  wood  saturated  with  melted 
butter  to  make  it  burn  quickly.  After  that,  there  only  remains  to  give  a  good 
dinner  to  the  ecclesiastics  and  settle  their  bill  satisfactorily. 

In  Burmah  and  Siam  the  complexion  is  of  great  importance,  as  the  natives 
wear  nothing  else  until  twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age,  when,  if  the  father  is 
wealthy,  they  come  out  in  a  gaudy-colored  silk  skirt,  or  lungi,  with  a  short 
jacket,  and  a  bright  handkerchief  for  the  head ;  but  if  poor,  they  usually  have 


CHINA. 


457 


to  be  contented  with  a  string  of  glass  beads  for  another  year,  when  they  ar- 
rive at  the  dignity  of  a  few  yards  of  cheap  cotton  cloth. 

The  Chinese  emigration  to  California  has  assumed  such  great  dimensions 
that  it  ought  to  be  alluded  to. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  wondered  at  that  John  Chinaman  is  no  social  favor- 
ite in  California— he  is  so  very  ugly!  very  black  of  hair,  very  low  of  stature, 
"  not  a  thing  of  beauty,"  and, 
moreover,  when  he  laughs 
he  shows  his  gums  horribly. 
But  he  is  most  patient  and 
industrious,  cooks  like  a 
Frenchman,  does  up  shirts 
in  the  laundry  like  an  artist, 
and  "  never  forgets  to  sew 
on  the  buttons."  His  first 
employment  in  California  was 
as  a  house-servant,  and  he 
still  continues  to  be  largely 
employed  in  that  capacity. 

He    has    a     passion    for  Chinese  children. 

learning,  and  seizes  every  opportunity  of  acquiring  English.  A  lady,  living 
in  Sacramento,  was  obliged  successively  to  discharge  two  young  Chinese  ser- 
vants, because  they  would,  the  moment  her  back  was  turned,  mind  the  spelling- 
book  instead  of  the  wash-tub ;  and  "  John  "  keeps  to  his  high-flown  poetical 
language.  "  In  San  Francisco  his  sign-board  literature  is  a  study — Virtue  and 
Felicit)^  Sincerity  and  Faith,  are  common  inscriptions  over  his  shop  doors." 
A  restauratcnr  styles  his  place  of  business  the  "  Garden  of  the  Golden  Valley," 
and  a  drug  store  receives  the  appellation  of  "  Benevolence  and  Longevity." 
In  short,  "John  "  is  to  be  seen  in  California  keeping  intact  all  the  well-known 
peculiarities  of  his  race — a  "  silent  man  in  his  basket-hat,  blue  tunic  and  cloth 
shoes  with  wooden  soles — this  man  of  the  long  pigtail  and  bare  neck,  the  re- 
strained, eager  eyes  and  the  yellow,  serene,  impassive  face." 

But  the  worst  of  him  as  an  emigrant  is,  that  he  does  not  come  to  stay,  and 
so  cannot  be  educated  into  a  responsible  citizen.  His  whole  aim  is  to  ac- 
cumulate two  or  three  hundred  dollars— wealth  to  him— and  then  recross  the 
Pacific.  He  holds  the  worship  of  his  dead  ancestors  to  be  a  fundamental 
part  of  his  religion,  and  every  particle  of  their  dust  is  sacred.  This  is  the 
reason  of  Iiis  insuperable  objecdon  to  the  introduction  of  railways  into  China; 
he  is  afraid  they  will  plough  up  this  sacred  dust.  So  he  cannot  himself  en- 
dure the  thought  of  resdng  elsewhere :  and  when  he  dies  in  Calilornta.  he 
leaves  strict  orders  that  his  "  remains,"  sometimes  his  embalmed  body,  but 
usually  his  bones  (boiled  and  stripped  of  flesh,  that  they  may  be  packed  com- 
pacdy  in  boxes,  to  reduce  the  cost  of  transportation),  shall  be  sent  home, 
5,000  miles,  for  burial,  by  the  company  to  which  he  belonged. 


JAPAN. 


JAPAN  is  an  extensive  empire, 
containing  26,000,000  of  in- 
liabitants.  These  live  to  the 
east  of  China,  upon  several  isl- 
ands, of  which  Niphon  is  the; 
largest.  The  people  live  crowd- 
ed together  in  large  cities,  and  re- 
semble the  Chinese  in  their  re- 
ligion, manners  and  customs. 

It  is  uncertain  whether  the  an- 
cient  nations    knew    anything  of 
this  empire,  and  its  early  history 
is  almost  unknown.     It  is  probable 
it  has  remained  with  little  change 
for  thousands  of  years.     Its  exist- 
ence was  first  ascertained  by  the 
Europeans  about  the  year  1400; 
but  as  strangers  are  not  permitted 
to  travel  in  the  country,  very  litde 
is    found    out    concerning    it.     A 
treaty    of    peace    and    commerce 
was  made  between    this    country 
and  the  United  States  in  1S54. 

Japan  has  a  temporal  and  a 
spiritual  emperor.  The  first  is 
called  the  Tycoon  ;  the  latter,  the 
Mikado,  and  he  lives  in  complete 
seclusion  in  the  little  principality 
of  Kioto,  where  he  is  venerated 
as  a  god  and  surrounded  by  a 
strict  ceremonial.  The  political 
organization  is  complicated,  the 
Tycoon  having  thirteen  council- 
lors, five  of  whom  are  chosen 
JAPANESE  LADY.  from    vassal    princes,  thirty-eight 

from    among    the    hereditary   nobility.     It    is    these    councillors    who    really 
govern,  the  Tycoon  being  understood  to  assent  to  their  propositions ;  and  it 
he  cannot  or  will  not  do  so,  then  he  is  expected  to  resign  in  favor  of  his  next 
heir.     In  fact,  the  government  is  a  sort  of  constitutional  monarchy. 

(458) 


JAPAN.  4.59 

The  population  is  divided  into  castes,  which  are  hereditar>',  as  in  ancient 
Egypt.  The  vassal  princes,  the  hereditary  nobility,  the  priests,  soldiers,  doc- 
tors, civil  functionaries,  etc.,  all  following  their  callings,  from  father  to'  son. 
The  first  four  castes  only  have  the  right  to  wear  swords  and  wide  trousers. 
The  peasants  belong  to  the  soil. 

The  singular  charms  of  their  land  have  developed  an  esthetic  side  to  the 
character  of  the  people  that  is  discoverable  not  only  in  their  intense  love  of 
flowers,  but,  indeed,  as  well  in  the  passionate  admiration  of  attractive  views 
of  land  and  sea.  As  landscape  gardeners  they  are  artists,  creating  marvels  of 
picturesque  beauty  on  an  area  of  ground  that  others  would  think  it  hopeless 
to  attempt  improving.  On  all  the  roads  and  pathways  throughout  the  country, 
wherever  there  is  an  especially  fine  view  to  be  obtained,  a  resting-place  is  to 
be  found,  and  rustic  seats  provided  for  the  convenience  of  the  wayfarer:  and 
wherever  there  is  travel  sufficient  to  warrant  it,  there  will  be  found  tea-houses, 
located  at  every  point  of  more  than  ordinary  attraction  as  regards  scenery. 

The  Japanese  are  lovers  of  nature  in  all  its  phases.  Their  life  may  be 
said  to  be  in  full  communion  with  the  natural.  All  their  temple  grounds,  and 
places  devoted  to  wayside  shrines,  are  indicative  of  their  appreciation  of  the 
beautiful.  Groves  of  trees  encompass  these  places.  No  one  is  found  with- 
out its  surroundings  of  forest  growth,  and  in  most  cases  high  elevations  are 
selected,  from  which  the  view  is  fine  and  e.\tended,  on  which  to  build  their 
temples.  It  is  the  same  with  the  burial-places  of  the  dead.  Under  the  sigh- 
ing branches  of  the  cedars  and  pines  the  dead  are  placed,  to  await  the  final 
destiny  of  all  things,  and  their  tombs  are  decorated  with  garlands  and  wreaths 
of  fresh  flowers,  placed  by  loving  and  reverent  hands. 

The  religion  of  the  people  brings  them  into  unison  with  nature,  because 
they  see  their  gods  in  all  that  surrounds  them.  Their  legends  tell  of  strange 
manifestations  of  power  in  the  creation  of  their  land,  and  the  production  of 
what  they  eat  and  what  their  eyes  look  upon.  Gods  of  the  hills  and  moun- 
tains, gods  of  the  sea  and  gods  of  the  flowers,  are  to  them  verities  and  not 
conceptions,  tangible  forms  and  not  myths.  In  worshipping  at  nature's  shrine 
they  honor  the  gods.  They  may  be  said  to  be  highly  civilized,  and  there  is  a 
vigor  and  originality  about  their  mechanical  and  artistic  work  which  surpasses 
that  of  the  kindred  Chinese ;  but  they  have  always  raised  such  obstinate  ob- 
jections to  communication  with  other  nations,  that  it  is  only  of  Jate  years  we 
have  been  able  to  penetrate  the  mystery  of  their  political  and  social  condition. 

The  best  idea  of  the  people  is  to  be  got  from  their  own  artistic  produc- 
tions. Engravings,  sketches  in  Chinese  ink  and  colored  prints,  are  to  be 
bought  in  the  shops  of  the  principal  towns ;  and  though  the  perspective,  light, 
and  shade  is  of  a  peculiar  sort,  these  works  of  art  are  ver>-  graphic,  and  rep- 
resent all  sorts  of  scenes  and  ceremonies  to  which  a  foreigner  could  with  dif- 
ficulty get  access,  if  at  all. 


460 


GOLDEN    TREASURY. 


The  Japanese  are  a  somewhat  diminutive  race,  the  men  being  rather  over 
five  feet  tail,  and  the  women  between  four  and  five;  showing  a  considerable 
disproportion  between  the  two  sexes.  They  have  large  heads,  prominent 
cheek  bones  and  features  of  a  more  regular  and  intelligent  type  than  that  of 
the  Chinese.  Their  skin  is  also  of  different  shades  of  brown,  varying  from 
dark  to  nearly  fair;  but  it  is  never  yellow.  The  young  people  and  children 
have  a  good  deal  of  color.  The  women  of  the  upper  classes  are  very  fair, 
and  esteem  a  delicate  complexion  as  an  evidence  of  rank  ;  but  they  never 
come  up  to  our  notions  of  beauty,  on  account  of  their  eyes  being  set  too  ob- 
liquely in  the  head.     This  marked  peculiarity  is  observable  in  all  the  Japanese 


JAPANESE   FAMILY. 


paintings,  of  which  numerous  examples  are  to  be  seen  in  the  United  States 
now.  The  faces  of  both  sexes  are,  however,  mobile,  and  exhibit  great  variety 
in  expression ;  they  are  therefore  more  attractive  than  those  of  other  Asiatic 
nations. 

The  Japanese  only  marries  one  wife,  and  the  women  enter  very  young 
upon  household  cares.  These,  however,  are  not  so  heavy  as  with  us,  for  the 
houses  contain  litde  or  no  furniture — unless  mattine  be  considered  as  such — for 
on  matt  ng  the  Japanese  family  sits,  eats  and  sleeps.  In  the  morning  the  citizen 
puts  away  his  pillows  and  coverlids,  sweeps  out  his  room  and  all  is  done.  In 
the  evening  he  shuts  up  his  shutters  and  pulls  out  his  bedding,  and  sub-di- 
vides his  house  ingeniously  with  screens,  and  all  his  preparations  are  made. 


JAPAN.  461 

The  Japanese  women  wear  their  hair  elaborately  dressed,  their  lips 
painted,  and  their  necks  and  faces  artistically  powdered  and  painted.  A  Japan- 
ese woman  is  considered  very  dowdy-looking,  indeed,  if  her  hair  is  not 
elaborately  arranged  ;  and  no  matter  to  what  social  rank  you  turn,  it  is  rare,  in- 
deed,  to  find  one  who  does  not  follow  the  fashion.  A  very  peculiar  custom 
among  them  is  to  shave  their  eyebrows  off  Another  custom,  but  one  which 
the  people  are  gradually  dropping,  is  the  blacking  of  the  teeth  of  married 
women. 

It  is  very  disappointing,  at  times,  to  be  riding  down  the  street  and  meet  a 
handsome  Japanese  woman — and  there  are  many  of  them — and  see  her 
friendly  smile  suddenly  disclose  teeth  as  black  as  coal.  Their  walk  is  very 
peculiar.  They  all  turn  their  toes  in  to  such  an  extent  that  their  walk  be- 
comes a  perfect  waddle — the  more  exaggerated  because  of  the  high  clogs  they 
wear.  They  cling  to  this  style  of  walking  with  the  greatest  tenacity.  A  few 
years  since  a  foreigner  started  a  dancing-school  in  Tokio.  He  had  many  pu- 
pils, and  for  a  time  things  went  on  quite  merrily,  but  a  cloud  soon  arose.  The 
girls'  habits  of  walking  prevented  them  from  dancing  well,  and  the  teacher 
commenced  teaching  them  to  turn  their  toes  out.  They  obeyed  without  a 
murmur;  but  the  next  day  the  teacher  was  informed  that  he  might  teach  the 
girls  to  dance,  but  he  must  let  their  walking  alone ;  that  it  was  a  national  cus- 
tom to  walk  in  their  manner,  and  it  must  be  followed,  and  any  interference 
with  it  would  lose  him  his  pupils. 

Generally  gay  and  lively,  often  light  and  frivolous,  the  Japanese  is  disposed 
to  turn  everything  into  pleasantry.  He  skims  over  the  surface,  and  rarely 
goes  to  the  bottom  of  things.  He  excels  in  light  criticism,  caricatures  and 
humorous  conceptions.  In  politics  he  makes  a  clever  opposition  journalist 
and  a  dangerous  writer  of  epigrammatic  political  pamphlets. 

A  few  years  ago  the  stranger  on  landing  in  Japan  might  have  imagined 
himself  transported  back  to  feudal  times.  Soldiers  dressed  in  coats  of  mail, 
and  armed  with  the  lance,  citizens  clothed  in  long,  loose  vestments,  princely 
processions,  a  feudal  organization  permeating  the  whole  social  fabric,  and  con- 
trolling all  interests  and  classes,  met  him  at  every  turn.  The  outward 
signs  of  this  primitive  civilization  are  gradually  fading  away.  The  mighty 
influences  of  steam  and  electricity  are  making  themselves  everywhere  felt; 
railways  are  being  built,  canals  dug.  telegraphs  erected,  mines  opened  and 
worked  on  the  newest  and  most  improved  systems.  The  civilization  of  the 
West  is  pouring  into  the  land  through  a  thousand  different  channels. 


BOTANICAL    GARDEN,   ADELAIDE. 


AUSTRALIA. 


'USTRALIA  is  an  immense  island,  containing  three  millions  of 
square  miles,  and  is  about  as  extensive  as  all  the  United  States. 
It  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  may  hereafter,  from  its  great  re- 
sources and  its  geographical  position,  become  the  greatest 
country  on  the  globe.  This  great  island  was  discovered  by  the 
Dutch  in  1610,  but  the  whole  of  it  is  now  claimed  as  a  territory 
''  'V  of  Great  Britain.     Captain  James  Cook,  the  celebrated  navigator, 

took  possession  of  it  in  1770.  It  is  divided  into  North  Australia,  West 
Australia,  South  Australia,  Victoria,  Queensland  and  New  South  Wales. 
Of  all  the  Australian  colonies  the  oldest  is  New  South  Wales,  it  having  been 
settled  in  1788;  and  till  West  Australia  was  established,  in  1829,  it  included 
all  the  English  settlements  in  the  country.  It  was  originally  much  more  ex- 
tensive than  it  is  now,  including  much  of  Victoria  and  Queensland,  which  were 
separated  from  it  in  1851.  Its  area  in  acres  is  about  five  times  that  of  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  and  more  than  half  as  laree  aeain  as  France. 

Sydney,  the  capital  of  New  South  Wales,  is  the  oldest  city  of  Australia. 
It  is  well  built,  with  fine,  broad  streets  and  imposing  public  buildings,  which, 
combined  with  its  commanding  situation  on  a  splendid  harbor,  has  gained  for 
it  the  appellation  of  "  The  Queen  of  the  South."  Port  Jackson,  the  harbor 
of  Sydney,  for  variety,  extent,  and  picturesque  combinations,  rivals,  if  it  does 

(462) 


AUSTRALIA,  453 

not  surpass,  the  celebrated  harbor  of  Rio  de  Janiero.  Mr.  Anthony  Trol- 
lope  speaks  of  it  as  "  so  inexpressibly  lovely  that  it  makes  a  man  ask  himself 
whether  it  would  not  be  worth  his  while  to  move  his  household  o-ods  to  the 
eastern  coast  of  Australia,  in  order  that  he  might  look  on  it  as  long  as  he  can 
look  at  anything." 

Victoria,  once  called  Australia  Felix  from  its  beauty  and  fertility,  though 
the  smallest  of  the  Australian  colonies,  is  the  most  populous  and  the  most 
wealthy.  Melbourne,  capital  of  the  colony,  has,  in  the  course  of  forty  years, 
become  a  city  of  200,000  inhabitants,  or,  with  the  suburbs  within  a  ten-mile 
radius,  250,000,  thus  already  taking  rank  in  the  ninth  place  amongst  the  cities 
of  the  British  empire,  while  in  other  respects  unquestionably  one  of  the  best- 
built  and  finest  in  the  world.  As  this  city  is  but  little  known  to  the  world  at 
large,  it  seems  desirable  that  we  should  give  a  brief  statement  of  its  wonderful 
history,  and  description  of  its  present  characteristics. 

John  Pasco  Fawkner  died  at  Melbourne  on  September  4th,  1869,  the  un- 
disputed oldest  inhabitant  in  a  vast  city  that  had  no  existence  when  he  sailed 
up  the  Yarra-yarra  in  the  schooner  Enterprise  in  the  summer  of  1835.  Where 
in  the  midst  of  a  wilderness  he  had  plowed  his  land  and  grown  his  first  crop 
of  wheat  a  city  had  arisen  which,  with  its  suburban  townships,  numbered  nearly 
170,000  souls.  Long  lines  of  carriages  followed  the  pioneer  to  his  grave, 
and  the  people  in  their  thousands  lined  the  spacious  streets  as  the  proces- 
sion passed. 

Cook,  Flinders  and  Grant  did  litde  more  than  name  the  prominent  head- 
lands alone  the  southern  shores  of  Australia.  Lieutenant  Murray,  R.  N., 
1802,  discovered  Port  Philip  bay,  and  in  the  following  year  Colonel  Collins, 
with  soldiers  and  convicts  to  the  number  of  402,  attempted  to  form  a  setde- 
ment  on  its  shores.  A  bad  site  was  chosen  ;  the  expedition  was  a  failure,  and 
in  1804  the  setdement  was  transferred  to  Van  Diemen's  Land.  One  man 
named  Buckley  ran  away  into  the  bush  and  lived  for  thirty  years  among  the 
natives.  In  1824  two  catde-owners  in  New  South  Wales  came  in  search  of 
new  pasture-grounds  along  the  Murray  river  and  across  the  Australian  Alps 
to  the  present  site  of  Geelong,  but  returned  without  accomplishing  any  result 
beyond  exploring  the  district.  The  first  attempt  to  colonize  the  territory  now 
known  as  Victoria  was  in  1834.  when  Mr.  Thomas  Henty.  with  a  few  free 
settlers,  located  themselves  at  Pordand  bay,  234  miles  from  where  Melbourne 
now  stands.  In  the  following  year  John  Batman  led  a  party  to  Port  Philip 
bay  and  made  a  remarkable  treaty  with  the  blacks,  by  which  they  ceded  to 
him  600.000  acres  for  a  quantity  of  blankets  and  tomahawks,  or.  as  one  ac- 
count states,  for  "three  sacks  of  glass  beads,  ten  pounds  of  nails,  and  hve 
pounds  of  flour."  The  English  government  subsequendy  annulled  this  con- 
tract, but  the  representadves  of  Batman  received  /7.000  in  compensation. 
Three  months  after  Batman  and  his  helpers  had  got  to  work  John  Fawkner  s 


464  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

schooner  sailed  past  their  settlement  and  up  the  Yarra-yarra,  and  was  made 
fast  to  a  eucalyptus  tree  on  the  bank,  opposite  to  where  the  Melbourne  Cus- 
tom House,  an  ornament  to  the  city,  now  stands. 

The  news  of  the  discovery  of  rich  pastures  in  the  neighborhood  of  Port 
Philip  bay  soon  spread  far  and  wide.  In  spite  of  some  opposition  from  the 
British  cxovernment,  emigrants  flocked  thither  from  New  South  Wales  and 
Tasmania,  taking  with  them  their  sheep  and  cattle.  At  the  end  of  a  few 
months  the  setdement  contained  a  population  of  224,  of  whom  38  were 
women.  The  possessions  of  the  colonists  included  75  horses,  555  head  of 
cattle,  and  41,332  sheep.  It  was  at  this  period  that  William  Buckley,  the  con- 
vict, who  had  escaped  from  the  disastrous  expedition  of  Collins  in  1803, 
returned  to  his  compatriots.  He  had  been  thirty-three  years  among  the 
blacks  and  quite  forgotten  his  own  language. 

There  was  little  in  "The  Setdement,"  as  infant  Melbourne  was  for  some 
time  called,  to  suggest  its  future  wealth  and  vastness.  In  January,  1838,  there 
were  a  couple  of  wooden  houses  serving  as  hotels  for  the  country  setders 
when  they  brought  up  their  wool  to  send  off  by  ship,  or  for  new  arrivals  on 
their  way  to  the  "bush."  "A  small  square  wooden  building"  (says  Mr. 
George  Arden,  an  eye-witness),  "  with  an  old  ship's  bell  suspended  from  a 
most  defamatory-looking,  gallows-like  structure,  fulfilled  the  duty  of  church 
or  chapel  to  the  various  religious  denominations,  whence,  however,  the  solemn 
voice  of  prayer  and  praise,  sounding  over  the  yet  wild  country,  had  an  effect 
the  most  interesting  and  impressive."  There  were  two  or  three  shops,  each 
selling  anything  useful,  and  a  branch  of  a  Tasmanian  bank.  Six  months 
later  numerous  brick  houses  of  two  or  three  stories  had  risen  ;  the  inns  had 
become  handsome  and  convenient ;  streets  were  marked  out  and  macadamized; 
the  population  had  quadrupled,  and  a  multitude  of  dealers  had  opened  various 
kinds  of  shops. 

Fawkner  opened  the  first  inn,  and  on  January  ist,  1838,  started  the  first 
newspaper.  The  Melbourne  Advertiser.  The  first  nine  numbers  were  in  manu- 
script, and  limited  to  a  circulation  of  one  copy,  which  was  kept  at  Fawkner's 
bar  for  public  use. 

With  the  exception  of  a  disastrous  financial  crash  in  1842,  the  result  of 
over-speculation  and  land-jobbing,  the  history  of  Melbourne  till  the  gold 
discoveries  in  1851  was  a  history  of  steady  progress  and  success.  Scarcely 
was  the  Port  Philip  settlement  five  years  old  when  it  began  to  clamor  for 
separation  from  New  South  Wales.  In  1842  its  local  institutions  were  im- 
proved, and  it  was  allowed  to  send  six  delegates  to  the  Legislative  Council 
at  Sydney.  But  Melbourne  continued  agitadng  till,  in  1850,  its  prayer  was 
granted,  and  the  British  Parliament  passed  an  act  by  which,  on  July  ist,  1851, 
Port  Philip  became  a  separate  colony,  under  the  new  name  of  Victoria,  said  to 
have  been  chosen  by  the  queen  herself. 


AUSTRALIA.  ^g 

But  it  was  in  this  year,  ever  memorable  in  the  history  of  Melbourne  that 
a  rich  gold-field  was  discovered  within  a  hundred  miles  of  the  city,  at  Bal'larat 
The  discovery  of  gold  changed,  as  by  the  wave  of  the  magician' s  wand  the 
entire  future  of  life  in  Australia.  The  pulse  of  the  community,  which  'ere- 
while  beat  quietly  and  steadily,  at  once  mounted  to  fever-heat.  There  was 
but  one  theme  on  every  lip,  and  that  theme  was  "gold."  It  intoxicated  the 
whole  body  of  the  people.  They  rushed  pell-mell  to  the  various  spots  where 
the  dazzling  metal  was  supposed  to  be  obtainable.  The  laborer  left  his 
implements  of  toil  and  ran.  The  mechanic  quitted  his  bench.  The  clerk 
abrupdy  threw  up  his  situation.  The  merchant  left  his  counting-room.  The 
barrister  left  his  case  unfinished.  Melbourne  was  all  but  deserted.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  months  about  one-half  of  the  entire  male  population  of  the 
colony  had  left  their  wonted  avocations  and  gone  on  the  popular  adventure. 
Then,  too,  the  people  came  "  in  hot  haste  "  from  the  neighboring  colonies, 
crowd  following  crowd  as  fast  as  ships  by  sea  and  conveyances  by  land  would 
bring  them — men  of  every  shade  of  character,  and  thousands  with  no  char- 
acter at  all,  each  and  every  one  attracted  by  the  bewildering  glare  of  virgin 
gold.  Little  wonder  that  business  came  to  a  stand-still ;  that  the  old  land- 
marks were  torn  up ;  that  the  foundations  of  society  were  out  of  course,  and 
that  social  disorganization,  rapine,  dissipation,  and  even  murder,  speedily 
prevailed. 

Not  less  than  10,000  persons  landed  at  Melbourne  in  one  week  in  1851. 
Successful  diggers  came  down  to  the  city,  squandered  their  gold  like  mad- 
men, and  went  to  search  for  more.  It  became  possible  to  realize  vast  fortunes 
by  supplying  the  wants  of  the  gold-seekers,  when  men  were  willing  to  give  an 
ounce  of  gold  for  a  bottle  of  champagne.  Lodgings  of  any  kind  were  at  a  high 
premium  ;  to  be  allowed  to  stretch  on  the  floor  of  a  hotel  coffee-room  was  the 
utmost  favor  many  could  obtain.  The  boilers  of  a  steamer  lying  on  the  wharf 
were  used  as  a  sleeping-place  by  people  who  would  have  paid  well  for  beds 
if  money  could  have  obtained  them.  To  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  case  a 
town  of  tents,  known  as  Canvas  Town,  rose  on  the  St.  Kilda  road.  Several 
thousand  inhabitants  lived  in  this  temporary  setdement,  which  was  regularly 
laid  out  in  streets,  and  existed  for  several  months. 

The  government  service  had  a  great  difficulty  in  keeping  up  its  staff  of 
officials.  An  eminent  lawyer  from  Sydney,  appointed  to  a  seat  on  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Victoria,  could  find  nowhere  to  lay  his  head,  and 
after  spending  one  night  in  an  arm-chair  at  the  Melbourne  Club,  resigned  the 
appointment  and  went  back.  At  one  period  the  police  force  sank  far  below 
the  required  strength.  A  mounted  force,  known  as  the  Cadets,  was  enrolled, 
in  which  many  young  men  who  found  the  labor  of  gold-digging  did  not  suit 
them  were  glad  to  earn  good  wages.  These  guardians  of  the  peace  had  for 
a  time  a  prospect  of  plenty  of  work  before  them.    The  convicts  from  Tasmania 

30 


466  THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 

had  rushed  over  in  swarms.  But,  notwidistanding  the  disorganization  pro- 
duced by  the  gold-fever,  order  was  on  the  whole  remarkably  well  maintained. 
For  a  while  bushrangers  made  the  roads  to  the  diggings  unsafe.  During 
18152-3-4  there  were  frequent  robberies,  but  with  the  excitement  of  those  years 
all  disorderly  symptoms  passed  away,  and  the  colony  of  Victoria  settled  down 
into  a  law-abiding  community.  With  the  excepdon  of  the  Ballarat  riots  in 
December,  1854,  no  serious  disturbance  is  recorded  in  its  history.  Gold 
brought  together  a  teeming  population,  developed  all  the  resources  of  the 
country,  constructed  railways,  and  made  Melbourne. 

Several  expeditions  have  been  undertaken  by  the  Australians  for  the  pur- 
pose of  unveiling  the  secrets  hidden  in  the  interior  of  their  great  continent. 

In  1859  twenty-four  fleet  camels  were  procured  from  India  for  an  expedi- 
tion. The  command  was  given  to  Robert  O'Hara  Burke,  a  superintendent 
of  Victoria  police,  and  previously  connected  with  the  Irish  constabulary  and 
Australian  cavalry.  One  of  his  colleagues  was  William  John  Wills,  of  the 
Melbourne  Observatory,  a  young  hero  with  a  passionate  love  for  exploration. 
In  August,  i860,  the  party,  consisting  of  fifteen  men  with  their  camels  and 
provisions  for  twelve  months,  set  forth  amidst  the  acclamadons  of  the  Mel- 
bourne citizens.  A  depot  was  established  at  the  Barcoo  river,  and  on  Decem- 
ber 1 6th  Burke  and  Wills,  with  two  men  named  Gray  and  King,  pushed 
forward  with  a  horse  and  six  camels  northward,  and  at  length  reached  the 
Flinders  river,  where  they  met  the  tidal  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria. 

On  February  23d,  1861,  they  commenced  the  return  journey,  having 
accomplished  the  feat  of  crossing  the  Australian  continent.  On  April  21st 
Burke,  Wills  and  King  reached  the  Barcoo  rendezvous  to  find  it  deserted. 
The  expedition  had  abandoned  the  depot  that  day,  giving  their  companions 
up  for  lost.  The  three  adventurers  wandered  about  in  the  wilderness  till  near 
the  end  of  June,  subsisting  miserably  on  the  bounty  of  the  natives,  and  partly 
by  feeding  on  the  seeds  of  the  nardoo  plant.  At  length  both  Burke  and 
Wills  died  of  starvation. 

Melbourne  abounds  in  edifices  as  substantial  and  enduring  as  are  those  of 
any  place  in  the  world ;  the  material,  bluestone,  of  which  most  of  the  ware- 
houses and  many  of  the  public  buildings  are  in  whole  or  in  part  constructed, 
being,  so  to  speak,  of  an  imperishable  nature.  The  House  of  Parliament, 
situated  on  an  elevated  site  at  the  top  of  Bourke  street,  with  its  grand  fa9ade 
and  tower,  270  feet  in  height,  is  a  magnificent  structure.  The  richly  decorated 
halls  in  which  the  two  chambers  meet  have  each  a  measurement  of  76  feet  by 
40  feet,  and  36  feet  in  height.  There  are  splendidly-appointed  reading  and 
other  rooms  for  senatorial  comfort  and  convenience  and  a  well-stocked 
library. 

Melbourne  has  a  university  which  is  endowed  by  government,  the  profes- 
sors having  liberal  salaries  and  residences.     In  connection  with  the  university 


AUSTRALIA. 


467 


there  is  a  museum— a  large  hall  with  galleries  running  round  it— in  which  are 
displayed  stuffed  specimens  of  Australian  birds,  beasts  and  reptiles.  The 
immense  variety  of  Marsupialia,  for  which  Australia  is  so  remarkable,  is  here 
fully  exemplified.  Upon  the  walls  are  displayed  the  bones  of  the  diprotodon 
—an  awful  kangaroo  of  the  tertiary  epoch,  whose  pouch  rivalled  the  capacity 
of  a  modern  omnibus. 

There  are  several  markets  in  Melbourne.  One  of  the  principal,  and 
perhaps  the  most  interesting,  is  the  Eastern,  familiarly  known  as  "  Paddy's 
Market."  Early  in  the  morning  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays  this  market 
presents  an  animated  scene.  The  abundant  stores  of  potatoes,  cabbages, 
pineapples,  peaches, 
apricots,  plums,  and 
a  variety  of  other 
fruits  and  vegetables, 
attract  a  goodly  con- 
course of  buyers. 
But  it  is  on  Saturday 
night  that  this  market 
bursts  forth  in  its  full 
glory,  when  the  stalls 
are  lit  up  with  gas- 
light. 

Along  the  pas- 
sages an  immense 
crowd  of  men  and 
women  and  boys  and 
girls  passes  continu- 
ously, gazing,  buying,  talking,  laughing,  whilst  the  dealers  shout  the  merits 
of  their  wares.  Everything  that  can  be  eaten  or  drunk,  or  worn,  or  worked 
with  or  played  with,  seems  on  sale  here.  Oysters,  stockings,  crockery,  chisels, 
Bibles,  song-books,  old  clothes,  opossums,  tin-ware,  black  swans,  and  innumer- 
able other  things  are  all  near  at  hand  ;  fish,  flesh,  fowl,  and  vegetables  of  every 
sort  are  cheap  and  plentiful.  "  Cheap  Jack  "  shouts  his  bargains,  and  Punch 
and  Judy  and  Dog  Toby  attract  their  crowd  as  in  the  old  country. 

Mutton  is  a  very  abundant  article.  'T  was  attracted  by  a  loud  voice," 
says  an  eye-witness,  "  calling  out,  'This  way  for  cheap  mutton  ! '  A  red-faced 
man  in  butcher's  garb  was  standing  on  a  barrow  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd. 
Around  him  were  piled  a  number  of  half-carcasses  of  sheep,  ready-dressed 
for  cooking.  The  mutton  was  sweet  and  of  fair  average  quality.  The  sales- 
man was  holding  up  his  half-sheep  (cut  lengthways  through  the  middle), 
while  he  waved  the  other  hand  with  animated  gestures  toward  his  audience. 
'  Cheap  mutton  here  !     Come  along  !     Now's  your  time  !     Who'll  buy  cheap 


ORNITHORHYNCHUS. 


468 


THE   GOLDEN   TREASURY. 


mutton  ?  '  A  pause  ensues  ;  the  mutton  is  lowered  for  a  moment  to  ease  the 
arm ;  up  it  goes  once  more,  and  then  I  hear  him  sing  out,  '  Sold  again  and  got 
the  sugar'  (colonial  slang  for  ready  money).  '  Half  a  sheep  for  a  shilling! ' 
The  purchaser  was  a  litde  girl,  who  tottered  along  with  her  load  as  if  she 
held  a  little  brother  upsidedown.  A  young  man  took  another  at  the  same 
price.  But  there  were  few  bidders ;  the  supply  was  evidently  greater  than  the 
demand ;  and  it  was  certain  that  the  salesman  would  have  several  half-car- 
casses unsold.  .  .  .  What,  I  thought,  would  the  starving  poor,  the  employed 

and  unemployed  classes 
of  other  great  towns  and 
cities  think  of  this — half 
a  sheep  for  a  shilling, 
and  scarcely  any  bid- 
ders ! " 

In  Little  Bourke  street 
there  is  a  Chinese  quar- 
ter. In  the  dull,  dark, 
and  not  very  clean  shops, 
tea,  rice,  opium,  and  va- 
rious articles  specially 
required  by  the  Chinese 
are  the  chief  commodi- 
ties sold.  The  adjacent 
houses  are  tenanted  by 
swarms  of  Celestials.  Of 
these  Chinese  immigrants 
numbers  are  hawkers  in 
the  streets  of  Melbourne, 
carrying  about  various 
fancy  wares  in  baskets 
suspended  from  the  ends 
of  stout  bamboo- canes 
laid  across  their  shoul- 
ders. At  Emerald  Hill  there  is  a  Chinese  joss-house,  or  place  of  worship, 
with  all  the  appurtenances  for  the  due  celebration  of  religious  rites. 

The  old  colony  of  South  Australia  is  generally  flat,  as  compared  with 
Victoria  or  New  South  Wales.  Although  so  far  south,  and  therefore  farther 
from  the  tropics,  and  geographically  more  temperate,  yet  South  Australia  is 
very  hot,  and  perhaps  suffers  more  during  the  summer  months  of  December, 
January  and  February  than  any  of  the  other  colonies,  the  thermometer  often 
rising  at  Adelaide,  the  capital,  to  i  io°  or  115°  in  the  shade;  but  the  rest  of 
the  year  is  pleasant. 


AUSTRALIAN. 


AUSTRALIA.  469 

The  climate  of  West  Australia  is  generally  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  finest 
known.  The  mortality  of  the  whole  colony  is  said  to  have  averaged  only  one 
per  cent,  since  its  formation,  that  of  Great  Britain  being  about  two  and  a  half 
per  cent.  Snow  is  unknown,  and  ice  is  only  seen  in  the  morning  and  in  the 
depth  of  winter.  For  men  able  to  work,  who  possess  a  very  small  capital, 
and  have  some  knowledge  of  agriculture,  there  is  probably  no  country  in  the 
world  where  a  comfortable  and  even  a  luxurious  existence  maybe  attained  as 
easily  as  in  West  Australia. 

Queensland  possesses  a  more  uniformly  hot  climate  than  the  more  southern 
setdements.  Over  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  colony  frost  and  ice  are  un- 
known ;  while  at  Brisbane,  the  capital,  the  winter — June,  July  and  August 

is  a  most  delightful  season,  with  cool  mornings  and  evenino-s,  bright  and 
warm  days,  the  sky  always  blue,  and  the  air  wonderfully  transparent.  The 
colony  is  almost  entirely  free  from  epidemic  diseases,  and  is  very  favorable  to 
those  with  a  tendency  to  consumption. 

The  great  agricultural  specialty  of  Australia  is  its  wool,  the  produce  of 
about  fifty  millions  of  sheep.  Mining  forms  one  of  the  most  remunerative 
branches  of  industry.  South  Australia  contains  productive  copper  mines; 
New  South  Wales  extensive  coal  measures,  and  especially  gold.  The  richest 
gold-fields,  however,  are  those  of  Victoria.  In  New  South  Wales  a  consider- 
able number  of  diamonds  have  been  discovered;  and  these  valuable  gems 
have  also  been  found  in  Victoria  and  Queensland. 

The  natives  of  Australia  are  described  as  the  most  degraded  people  in 
the  world.  They  are  black,  and  have  frizzled  hair  like  negroes ;  and  they 
have  very  lean  arms  and  legs.  Their  features  have  a  resemblance  to  the 
monkey  tribe,  and  they  are  said  to  be  not  much  handsomer  or  more  intelligent 
than  the  orang-outangs  found  in  the  Malaysian  islands. 

When  Captain  Cook,  about  one  hundred  years  ago,  was  describing  the 
naked  savages  of  the  east  coast  of  Australia,  he  said:  "Their  principal  orna- 
ment is  the  bone  which  they  thrust  through  the  cartilage  which  divides  the 
nostrils  from  each  other.  Our  seamen,  with  some  humor,  called  it  their  sprit- 
sail-yard  ;  and,  indeed,  it  had  so  ludicrous  an  appearance  that,  till  we  were  used 
to  it,  we  found  it  difficult  to  refrain  from  laughter." 

The  exceedingly  wide-spread  custom  of  tattooing  the  skin  may  also  be 
alluded  to  here,  as  the  result  of  the  same  propensity  as  that  which  produces 
the  more  serious  deformations.  The  rudest  form  of  the  art  was  practised  by 
the  now  extinct  Tasmanians  and  some  tribes  of  Australians,  whose  naked 
bodies  showed  linear  or  oval  raised  scars,  arranged  in  a  definite  manner  on  the 
shoulders  and  breast,  and  produced  by  gashes  inflicted  with  sharp  stones,  into 
which  wood-ashes  were  rubbed,  so  as  to  allow  of  healing  only  under  unfavor- 
able conditions,  leaving  permanent  large  and  elevated  cicatrices,  conspicuous 
from  being  of  a  lighter  color  than  the  rest  of  the  skin. 


LAKE    ROTHE-MAHANA. 


NEW   ZEALAND. 


'-^^^fZ^N  the  centre  of  the  South  Pacific,  and  far  removed  from  the  shores 
of  Australia,  rises  the  island  group  bearing  the   name  of  New 
Zealand.     It  consists  of  two  large  and  several  smaller  islands, 
_  with  a  total  area   estimated  at  101,000  square  miles.     The  two 

^4^>^  large  islands  are  marked  by  striking  physical  differences.  North 
^^  Island,  with  its  varied  outlines,  consists  of  two  sections — the  north- 
T  western  peninsula,  abounding  in  fertile  and  ^vell-watered  valleys,  and 
the  main  body  of  the  island,  characterized  by  gently  sloping  hilly  ranges  and 
low-lying  table-lands,  varied  here  and  there  by  volcanic  peaks.  The  country 
is  everywhere  covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  timber,  except  in  the  heart 
of  the  island,  which  is  full  of  lakes,  hot  springs  and  geysers,  depositing  silica 
and  sulphur,  like  those  of  the  Yellowstone  Park  in  the  United  States. 

South  Island,  which  is  the  longer  and  more  extensive  of  the  two,  presents 
a  very  different  physical  aspect.  Its  western  side  is  traversed  in  its  entire 
length  by  the  so-called  Southern  Alps,  a  massive  range  from  10,000  to  13,000 
feet  high,  whose  slopes,  up  to  the  snow-line,  are  densely  wooded.  Towards 
the  west  they  contain  vast  snow-fields  and  glaciers,  extensive  tracts  filled  with 
stony  detritus,  clefts  and  fissures  of  enormous  depth,  whence  flow  icy  streams 
to  the  lakes  of  the  table-land. 

(470) 


NEW    ZEALAND. 


471 


These  Maoris  (which 


The  lakes  of  New  Zealand  deserve  especial  notice,  as  they  present  many 
interesting  features.  They  may  be  generally  classed  as  due  either  to  volcanic 
or  glacial  action,  the  former  being  the  case  in  the  North,  the  latter  in  the 
South  Island.  In  the  lake  region  of  North  Island  there  are  remarkable  groups 
of  hot  springs  of  various  degrees  of  temperature. 

But  the  most  wonderful  part  of  the  lake  region  is  the  small  Rothe-Mahana, 
or  Warm  lake,  with  its  boiling  springs  and  silicious  terraces.  Almost  every- 
where around  the  lake  there  is  a  seething,  hissing  and  boiling  sound  from  the 
numerous  escapes  of  steam,  boiling  water,  or  hot  mud;  while  in  the  lake  itself 
hot  springs  are  so  numerous  that  the  whole  body  of  water  is  kept  at  a  tem- 
perature of  90°  or  upwards. 

The  aborigines  of  New  Zealand  are  called  Maoris, 
in  their  language  means  simply 
"men")  are  dying  out  quite  as 
rapidly  as  are  the  Hawaiians,  to 
whom  they  are  akin.  In  1842  their 
numbers  were  estimated  at  1 14,- 
000;  in  1850  at  70,000;  now  40,- 
000.  According  to  their  own 
tradition  their  ancestors  came 
hither  some  400  years  ago,  in 
canoes,  from  an  island  which  they 
called  Hawaiki,  supposed  by  some 
to  be  Hawaii;  by  others,  who  think 
it  unlikely  that  canoes  could  make 
that  long  voyage  of  4,000  miles, 
one  of  the  nearer  Navigator  group. 
The  first  supposition  finds  some 
support  from  the  fact  that  when 
Cook  was  there,  in  1766,  his  Ha- 
waiian interpreter  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  conversing  with  the  Maoris. 
Whether  there  were  any  human 
dwellers  on  the  island  before  the 
Maoris  arrived  there  is  very  un- 
certain. The  only  quadruped  they 
found  was  a  kind  of  rat ;  but  birds 
were  plentiful,  and  the  waters 
abounded  in  fish,  which,  with  the 
roots  of  a  kind  of  flag,  and  sweet  potatoes,  which  they  apparently  brought 
with  them,  constituted  their  chief  food  when  the  whites  first  came  in  contact 
with  them. 


NEW  ZEALANDER. 


472  THE   GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

Physically,  the  Maoris  are  a  fine  people.  In  stature  and  physical  strength 
they  will  compare  favorably  with  Europeans.  Mentally  and  morally,  in  most 
respects,  they  rank  far  above  the  majority  of  uncivilized  people.  Generally 
they  are  of  a  light-brown  color,  with  straight,  black  hair  and  prominent 
features. 

New  Zealand  is  most  favorably  situated  for  the  growth  of  all  the  fruits 
and  vegetables  of  the  temperate  zone.  In  minerals,  though  late  in  the  field, 
it  now  almost  rivals  the  richest  colonies  of  Australia.  Large  amounts  of  silver 
have  also  been  exported. 

The  Maoris  are  fully  conscious  of  their  approaching  fate,  a  fate  in  which 
not  only  the  people  themselves,  but  also  the  native  vegetable  and  animal  life 
seem  involved.  The  Maoris  rightly  say :  "  As  the  white  man's  rat  has  extir- 
pated our  rat,  so  the  European  fly  is  driving  out  our  fly.  The  foreign  clover 
is  killing  our  ferns,  and  so  the  Maori  himself  will  disappear  before  the  white 


man." 


POLYNESIA. 


Polynesia  consists  of  many  groups  of  small  islands,  which  are 
scattered  over  a  large  extent  of  the  Pacific  ocean.  None  of  them 
are  wholly  occupied  by  civilized  people. 

The  Sandwich  islands  are  among  the  most  important  in  Poly- 
nesia. The  islands  were  discovered  by  Captain  Cook,  in  1777,  and 
named  in  honor  of  the  Earl  of  Sandwich.  In  February,  1779,  the  famous 
navigator  was  killed  by  the  natives  on  the  shore  of  Kaawaloa  bay, 
Hawaii.  The  spot  where  he  fell  is  now  marked  by  a  stone  shaft,  erected  by 
England  in  1874. 

"As  these  islands  are  not  united  under  one  government,"  says  an  early 
account  of  their  discovery,  "  wars  are  frequent  among  them.  The  inhabitants 
are  undoubtedly  of  the  same  race  as  those  that  possess  the  islands  south  of 
the  equator ;  and  in  their  persons  and  manner  approach  nearer  to  the  New 
Zealanders  than  to  their  less  distant  neighbors  either  of  the  Society  or  Friendly 
islands.  Tattooing  is  practised  by  the  whole  of  them."  Some  ten  or  twelve 
years  after  their  discovery  a  Napoleonic  king  of  Hawaii  invaded  successfully 
the  several  islands  of  the  group,  conquered  and  placed  them  under  his  own 
rule,  and  founded  a  dynasty  that  lasted  until  February,  1874. 

From  their  conquest  until  the  present  day  the  population  of  the  island  has 
steadily  and  rapidly  decreased.  Out  of  an  estimated  total  of  400,000  natives 
in  1779,  only  58,765  remained  in  1866,  and  this  latter  number  was  still  further 
diminished  between  the  years  1866  and  1872  to  51,531.     The  causes  of  this 


POLYNESIA.  473 

decrease  are  said  to  be  "wars,  drunkenness  and  human  sacrifices;"  but,  ac- 
cording to  native  traditions,  vast  numbers  of  the  people  were  swept  away 
during  the  first  part  of  the  present  century  by  periodical  epidemics  of  small- 
pox and  measles.     Whatever  the  cause,  the  ominous  fact  remains. 

The  natives  are  simple,  honest,  and  obviously  cheerful  and  contented ;  but, 
like  all  residents  of  the  tropics,  they  are  wanting  in  physical  energy.  "The 
people,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "are  surprisingly  hospitable,  and  know  how  to 
make  a  stranger  at  home  ;  they  have  leisure  and  know  how  to  use  it  pleasantly; 
the  climate  controls  their  customs  in  many  respects,  and  nothing  is  pursued 
at  fever-heat,  as  with  us." 

A  great  drawback  to  the  progress  of  the  islands  was,  until  late  years,  the 
lack  of  steam  communication  with  the  United  States;  but  this  has  been  re- 
moved by  the  Pacific  Mail  Company,  whose  steamers  now  touch  at  Honolulu 
once  a  month,  on  their  voyages  between  San  Francisco  and  Australia. 

The  Society  islands  likewise  belong  to  Polynesia.  They  are  situated  about 
a  thousand  miles  south  of  the  equator,  which  is  nearly  the  same  distance 
that  the  Sandwich  islands  are  north  of  it. 

The  largest  of  the  Society  islands  is  called  Tahiti,  or  Otaheite.  It  is  a 
hundred  miles  in  circumference,  and  is  inhabited  by  about  ten  thousand  people. 
Like  the  natives  of  the  Sandwich  islands,  they  are  generally  handsome  and 
of  agreeable  manners. 

The  Otaheitan  men  are  a  fine,  tall  set ;  the  women  very  handsome  and 
graceful,  but  somewhat  small.  They  are  verj'  fond  of  dress,  and  attend  the 
missionary'  chapels  in  wonderful  costumes  formed  of  portions  of  a  European 
toilette.  They  have  been  brought  under  the  influence  of  Christianity  by 
Methodist  pastors. 

Byron,  in  his  poem,  "  The  Island,"  has  written  a  beautiful  description  of 
Otaheite : 

"  The  chase,  the  race,  the  liberty  to  roam. 

The  soil  where  every  cottage  showed  a  home ; 

The  sea-spread  net,  the  lightly-launched  canoe; 

Which  stemmed  the  studded  archipelago 

O'er  whose  blue  bosom  rose  the  starry  isles ; 

The  healthy  slumber  caused  by  sportive  toils ; 

The  palm,  the  loftiest  dryad  of  the  woods, 

Within  whose  bosom  infant  Bacchus  broods. 


"  The  cava-feast,  the  yam,  the  cocoa's  root, 
Which  bears  at  once  the  cup,  and  milk,  and  fruit; 
The  bread-tree,  which,  without  the  ploughshare,  yields 
The  unreaped  harvest  of  unfurrowed  fields." 


DYAKS   OF    BORNEO. 


THE  MALAYSIAN  ISLANDS. 


S^^n<MERICA  ought  no  longer  to  be  called  the  New  World ;  for  one 
composed  of  the  islands  which  lie  in  the  Pacific  and  Indian  oceans 
is  newer,  and  to  this  region  the  name  of  Oceania,  or  Oceanica, 
has  been  given.  If  all  the  islands  were  put  together,  they  would 
cover  a  space  of  at  least  four  millions  of  square  miles  ;  that  is  a  space 
/^  larger  than  the  whole  of  Europe.  Those  islands  which  lie  in  the  Indian 
'  ocean,  near  the  continent  of  Asia,  are  called  Malaysia.  The  largest  of 
them  are  Borneo,  Sumatra,  and  Java.  Scarcely  anything  has  been  written 
about  the  history  of  Malaysia,  for  the  islands  are  chiefly  inhabited  by  the 
natives,  who  keep  no  record  of  passing  events,  and  have  no  desire  to  know 
the  deeds  of  their  forefathers. 

The  history  of  Java  is  best  known,  but  it  is  not  very  important  or  inter- 
esting. It  was  discovered  by  the  Portuguese  in  the  year  1510.  They  found 
it  an  exceedingly  fertile  island,  producing  abundance  of  sugar,  coffee,  rice, 
pepper,  spices,  and  delicious  fruits.  There  were  also  mines  of  gold,  silver, 
diamonds,  rubies  and  emeralds.  The  island  is  six  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in 
length.  Soon  after  its  discovery,  the  Dutch  got  possession  of  a  large  portion 
of  it.     They  built  the  city  of  Batavia,  on  the  north-western  coast  of  the  island. 

(474) 


THE   MALAYSIAN   ISLANDS. 


475 


The  city  Is  situated  on  a  low,  marshy  plain,  and  canals  of  stagnant  water  are 
seen  in  many  of  the  streets.  But  the  edifices  were  so  splendid  that  Batavia 
was  called  the  Queen  of  the  East.  Its  beauty  was  much  increased  by  the 
trees  that  overshadowed  the  streets  and  canals.  In  the  year  1 780  the  popula- 
tion amounted  to  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand.  People  from  all  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world  were  among  them.  But  the  Europeans  were  the 
fewest  in  number,  although  the  government  was  in  their  hands.  For  a  time 
Batavia  rapidly  declined ;  the  climate  was  so  unhealthy  that  strangers  were 
attacked  by  dreadful  fevers.  Of  late  years  the  city  has  been  rendered  more 
healthy  by  drainage.  In  the  year  181 1  the  English  took  possession  of  the 
island  of  Java.  They  kept  it  till  181 6,  and  then  restored  it  to  its  former 
owners.     The  Dutch  are  said  to  e.xercise  great  tyranny  over  the  natives. 


A.    VOLCANl, 


The  great  mountains  of  Java  are  all  volcanic  cones,  situated  for  the  most 
part  near  the  central  line  of  the  island.  Eight  of  these  e.xceed  10,000  feet; 
seven  more  exceed  9,000,  and  eight  are  between  7,000  and  9,000  feet  high, 
and  there  are  many  others  of  less  elevation.  The  total  number  of  volcanic 
peaks  in  Java  is  said  to  be  forty-six,  of  which  twenty  are  more  or  less  in  a 
state  of  activity. 

The  celebrated  Valley  of  Poison  is  an  extinct  crater  about  half  a  mile  in 
circumference,  which  is  an  object  of  terror  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  country. 
Every  living  thing  which  penetrates  into  this  valley  falls  down  dead,  and  the 
bottom  is  covered  with  bones  and  carcasses  of  tigers,  deer,  birds,  and  even 
of  men,  all  killed  by  the  copious  emanations  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  In  another 
crater  there  are  sulphurous  exhalations  which  have  killed  tigers,  birds,  and 


476  THE  GOLDEN  TREASURY. 

innumerable  insects.  The  tales  of  the  deadly  "  upas  tree,"  which  was  said  to 
destroy  all  creatures  which  slept  beneath  its  shade,  or  any  birds  which  flew 
over  it,  have  originated  in  the  word  "  upas  "  (poison)  being  applied  to  these 
places  and  also  to  a  poisonous  tree  charged  with  the  gases  from  them. 

Of  the  two  aboriginal  races  of  Malaysia,  the  Malays  and  the  Papuans,  the 
Malays  are  decidedly  the  more  populous  and  important.  They  have  spread 
their  language,  their  domestic  animals,  and  some  of  their  customs  widely 
throughout  the  Pacific  and  Indian  oceans.  They  are  held  to  belong  to  the 
so-called  Mongolian  division  of  mankind.  They  may  be  divided  into  two 
great  groups — the  savage  and  the  semi-civilized  peoples.  The  Dyaks  of 
Borneo  are  the  best  example  of  the  former.  They  have  no  writing  or  litera- 
ture ;  no  regular  government  or  religion,  and  they  wear  only  the  scantiest  cloth- 
ing of  the  usual  savage  type.  But  they  are  by  no  means  a  low  class  of  savages, 
for  they  build  good  houses,  they  cultivate  the  ground,  they  make  pottery  and 
canoes,  they  work  in  iron,  and  they  even  construct  roads  and  bridges.  At  home 
they  are  ingenious  in  their  use  of  wood,  bamboo,  and  a  sort  of  felt  cloth  with 
which  they  roof  their  houses.  We  have  seen  a  set  of  tiny  models  of  Malay 
workmanship,  all  executed  in  these  materials,  including  little  houses,  household 
utensils,  a  yoke  for  carr\-ing  weights  across  the  shoulders,  and  a  bridge  fit  to 
span  a  torrent  or  narrow  river,  with  a  host  of  other  articles. 

The  Malays  excel  as  seamen,  and  Malay  sailors  are  in  the  Eastern  seas 
what  the  Maltese  are  in  the  Mediterranean  ports.  But  it  must  be  confessed 
that  they  bear  a  worse  character.  The  "  treacherous  Malay  "  comes  up  again 
and  again  in  all  tales  of  Eastern  mutinies  or  piracies ;  and  his  dark  skin  and 
lithe  form  have  frequently  earned  him,  from  rough  English  captains,  the  name 
ofa"  Malay  Devil." 

"  He  is  as  treacherous  as  his  coral  reef, 
As  supple  as  his  palm,  and  though  he  loves 
The  colors  of  his  bird  of  paradise, 
His  heart  is  as  his  skin — and  both  are  dark." 


INDEX: 


Agriculture  and  commerce  of  England,  l8. 

Army  and  navy  of  England,  22. 

Alfred  the  Great,  30. 

Assassination  of  William  Rufus,  42. 

Attempt  of  England  to  subjugate  Scotland,  58. 

Agincourt,  Battle  of,  73. 

Armada,  Destruction  of  the  Spanish,  86. 

Art,  literature  and  science  in  England,  125. 

Agriculture  and  manufactures  in  Ireland,  131. 

Agriculture  and  manufactures  in  Scotland,  148. 

All  climntes  within  the  United  States  territory,  l6l. 

Americus  Vespucius,  168. 

American  Independence,  171. 

Argentine  Confederation,  179. 

Aboriginal  inhabitants  of  Canada,  190. 

America,  Discovery  of,  by  John  Cabot,  190. 

Arnold  and  Major  Andre,  217. 

America,  First  book  printed  in,  221. 

Adams'  administration,  225. 

Assassination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  245. 

of  President  Garfield,  252. 
American  painters  and  sculptors,  271. 

inventive  talent,  272. 
Assassination  of  Julius  Cajsar,  282.  ^ 

Augustan  age  of  Roman  literature,  282. 
Attempted  assassination  of  King  Humbert,  298. 
Assassination  of  Marat  by  Charlotte  Corday,  305. 
Architecture  in  Paris,  312. 
Art  and  literature  in  Spain,  317. 
Alhambra,  Palace  of  the,  316. 
Anecdote  of  Murillo,  318. 

of  Marshal  Soult,  318. 
Allonso,  King  of  Spain,  322. 
Amusements  and  recreations  of  Scandinavia,  330. 
Arnold  von  Winkelried,  334. 
Alpine  ascents,  336. 

Art,  science  and  literature  of  Germany,  348. 
Austria,  its  government  and  population,  357. 
Assassination  of  Alexander  II.  of  Russia,  373. 
Alexander  III.  of  Russia,  373. 
Algiers,  422. 

Abdel  Kader  defeated  by  the  French,  424. 
African  wild  animals,  425. 

Pigmies,  425. 

explorers,  428. 
Arabia  and  the  Arabs,  434. 
Australian  colonization,  462. 

gold-diggings,  465. 
Aboriginal  inhabitants  of  Australia,  469. 


British  tribes  and  races,  II. 
Boadicea,  Queen,  26. 
Battle  of  Hastings,  37. 
Bacon,  Roger,  i;6. 
Bards,  the  \Vels"h,  56. 
Battle  of  Crecjy,  62. 

of  Poictiers,  63. 

of  Agincourt,  73. 

of  Bosworth,  80. 
Bloody  Mary,  84. 


Bacon,  Francis,  Lord,  89. 

Bunyan,  John,  103. 

Battle  of  the  Boyne,  105, 

Boyne,  Battle  of  the,  105. 

Beaconsfield,  Lord,  122. 

Blarney  Stone,  in  Ireland,  134. 

Bruce,  Kiiig  Robert,  157. 

Battle  of  Bannockburn,  158. 

Balboa's  discovery  of  the  Pacific,  169. 

Benito  Juarez,  173. 

Bolivar,  Simon,  17S. 

Brazil,  the  country  and  people,  181. 

British  Columbia,  199. 

Boston  Harbor,  Destruction  of  tea  in,  210. 

Battle  of  Lexington,  212. 

of  Bunker  Hill,  213. 

of  Trenton,  214. 
Bennington,  Battle  of,  214. 
Burgoyne,  Surrender  of,  216. 
Burr,  Aaron,  227. 
Battle  of  Buena  Vista,  237. 
Bryant,  William  CuUen,  263. 
Book-illustration  in  the  United  States,  27I. 
Beauty  of  Florence,  288. 
Bridge  of  Sighs,  Venice,  290. 
Bay.ard,  The  Chevalier,  302. 
Bastile,  Storming  of  the,  304. 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  306. 
Boulanger,  General,  313. 
Bull-fighting  in  Spain,  322. 
Battle  of  Lutzen,  32S. 

of  Mortg.Trten,  333. 

of  Semjiach,  ^^^. 

of  Nefels,  334. 
Belgium,  337. 
Berlin,  Life  in,  343. 
Bavaria,  360. 
Bohemia,  361. 
B.ijazet,  Defeat  of,  388. 
Battle  of  Marathon,  398. 

of  Thermopylae,  399. 

of  Aboukir,  413. 
Barbary  Stales,  422. 
Baalbec,  Ruins  of,  434. 
Babylon,  Fall  of,  436. 
British  Empire  in  India,  438. 
Burke  and  Wills,  466. 


Casdmon,  the  story  of,  28. 

Cnute,  King,  34. 

Crcty,  Battle  of,  62. 

Chaucer,  the  Father  of  English  poetry,  66. 

Chevychase,  69. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  94. 

Culloden.  Battle  of,   IIO. 

Canada,  Conquest  of,    I  lo. 

Catholic  emancipation  in  England,  I16. 

Crystal  Palace,  118. 

Crimean  War,  120. 

Columbus.  Voyages  of  Christopher,  164. 

Cortez  and  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  170. 

Chili,  its  prosperous  condition,  179. 

(477) 


478 


INDEX. 


Ji 


Central  America,  i8o. 

Cabot,  Discoveries  by  John  and  Sebastian,  1 90. 

Canada,  Constiliuion  of,  197. 

its  greatness  and  vast  resources,  197. 
Canadian  fisheries,  198. 
Colonization  of  New  England,  204. 
Cornwallis,  Surrender  of  General,  218. 
Clay,  Henry,  230. 
Callioun,  John  Caldwell,  231. 
Chicago,  Great  tire  in,  249. 
Cu>ter,  Death  of  General,  250. 
Cleveland,  Stephen  Grover,  255. 
California,  Giant  trees  of,   256. 
Chautaut|ua  Lake,  259. 

Chromolithography  in  the  United  States,  271, 
Climate  of  Italy,  273. 
Carthage,  Destruction  of,  279. 
Caius  Julius  Ciesar,  280. 
Cataconilis  of  Rome,  283. 
Cathedral  of  Milan,  292. 
Charlemagne,  Reign  of,  300. 
Charlotte  Corday,  305. 
"Cid,"  Chronicle  of  the,  315. 
Cervantes,  Don  Miguel  de,  317. 
Canioens  am!  his  poem  of  the  Lusiad,  323. 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  329. 
Chamouni,  Valley  of,  336. 
Cologne  Cathedral,  349. 
Catherine  the  Great  of  Russia,  367. 
Constantinople,  Siege  of,  388. 
Cleopatra,  Death  of,  411. 
Cairo,  Life  in,  413. 
Cambyses'  conquest  of  Egypt,  416. 
Calcutta,  "  Jilack  Hole  "  of,  438. 
Clive,  Robert,  438. 
Cashmere,  Valley  of,  446. 
China,  (jreat  wall  of,  450. 
Chinese  advertisements,  453, 
Chinese  in  California,  457. 
Chinese  in  Australia,  468. 


Druidical  Sacrifices,  24. 

Dunstan,  St.,  and  the  Devil,  32. 

Douglas  and  Harry  Hotspur,  72. 

Destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  86. 

Drake,  .Sir  Francis,  87. 

Daniel  O'Connell,  137. 

Dublin,  140. 

Discoveries  of  Cabot,  190. 

Duel  between  Hamilton  and  Aaron  Burr,  223. 

Death  of  Washington,  225. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  240. 

Death  of  Lincoln,  245. 

of  Custer,  250. 

of  Garfield,  252. 
Drake,  Joseph  Rodman,  262. 
Dante  and  his  Divine  Comedy,  288. 
Death  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  308. 
"  Don    Quixote,"   circumstances    under   which 

written,  317. 
Death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  329. 
Danish  literature,  art  and  science,  330. 
Death  of  Arnold  Von  Winkelried,  334. 
Dutch,  Character  of  the,  339. 
Dresden,  346. 
Dervishes,  Dancing,  392. 
Desert  of  Sahara,  424. 
Damascus,  Ruins  of,  433. 
Delhi,  Storming  of,  440. 
Dancing-girls  of  India,  446. 


It    was 


Extent  and  physical  aspect  of  England,  12. 
Early  British  tribes  and  races,  23. 
England,  Noiman  conquest  of,  37.' 
Eleanor  of  Castile,  55. 
England  and  Scottish  border  warfare,  69. 
English   Revolution,  96. 

statesmanship  and  oratory,  122. 

literature,  science  and  philosophy,  125. 

rule  in  Ireland,  130. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  221. 
Ericsson,  Inventions  of  John,  246. 
Earliest  inhabitants  of  Spain,  314. 
Elizabeth,  St.,  345. 

Empire,  Proclamation  of  the  German,  354. 
Early  hi-story  of  Russia,  364. 
Epaminondas,  4CX). 
Egypt,  Ancient  civilization  of,  407. 
Egyptians,  Superstitions  of  the,  409. 

Invasion  of,  by  Napoleon,  412. 
Egyptian  temples,  414. 
Egypt,  Conquest  of,  by  Cambyses,  416. 
Egyptian  mummies,  419. 
Egyptians,  Religion  of  the  Ancient,  419. 
Empire  in  India,  British,  438. 


Flodden,  Battle  of,  82. 

Fire  of  London,  102. 

Father  Matthew  and  his  temperance  campaign,  134. 

Fisheries,  Scottish,  149. 

"Fountain  of  Youth,"  168. 

Fisheries,  Newfoundland,   198. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  and  his  discoveries,  221. 

Florence,  City  of,  288. 

Great  men  born  in,  288. 
France,  Prinntive  inhabitants  of,  299. 
French  monarchy  under  Clovis,  299. 
France,  Wits  and  literary  men  of,  303. 
French  Revolution,  304. 

Consulate  and  Empire  under  Napoleon,  306. 

Republic  and  Empire  under  Napoleon  III.,  308. 
Franco-German  war,  308. 

French  gre<itness  in  literature,  science  and  art,  313. 
Frederick  the  Gre.it,  342. 
French  retreat  from  Moscow,  370. 
French  defeated  at  Aboukir,  413. 
French,  Defe.it  of  Abdel  Kader  by  the,  424. 
Female  dwarfing  of  the  feet  in  China,  455. 

fashions  in  Japan,  461. 


Godwin  and  his  .singular  death,  36. 
Gaveston,  Beheading  of,  59. 
Glendower,  Owen,  71. 
Garnet  Wolseley,  Sir,  122. 
Gordon,  "  Chinese,"  122. 
Gladstone,  William  Ewart,  124. 
"Giant's  Causeway"  in  Ireland,  139. 
Georgia,  Settlement  of,  207. 
Grant,  General   Ulysses  .S.,  247. 
Garfield,  Assassination  of  President,  252, 
Giant  trees  of  California,  256. 
Garibaldi,  his  life  in  New  York,  296. 
Geographical  aspect  of  Spain,  314. 
Granada,  Splendor  of,  316. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  his  victories,  328. 
Gessler,  Death  of,  by  Wilham  Tell,  332. 
Germany,  Empire  of,  340. 

Art,  liter.ature  and  science  of,  348. 
Greece,  its  climate  and  history,  396. 


INDEX. 


479 


Greece,  Philosophers  of,  401. 

Orators  and  Dramatists  of,  402, 
Greeks,  Religion  of  the,  406. 
Ganges,  The,  443. 

H 

Hastings,  Battle  of,  37. 

Harry  Hotspur,  72. 

Hampden,  John,  94. 

Hogarth  and  his  pictures,  ill. 

Highland  and  Lowland  races  in  Scotland,  146. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  222. 

Hayne,  Robert,  234. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  250. 

Hancock,  General  Winfield  Scott,  254. 

Halleck,  J.  Fitz-greene,  262. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  264. 

Hannibal  and  his  war  with  Rome,  278. 

Herculaneum,  Destruction  of,  294. 

Humbert,  King  of  Italy,  298. 

Holland,  Scenery  of,  339. 

Hohenzollern,  House  of,  341. 

Hanging-gardens  of  Babylon,  435. 

Hindoo  chronology,  437. 

mythology  and  literature,  438. 
Hastings,  Warren,  439. 
Havelock,  General,  440. 


Indian  mutiny,  121. 

Ireland,  Character  of  the  country  and  people,  129. 

English  rule  in,  130. 

Agriculture  and  manufactures  in,  132. 
Irish  statesmen,  patriots  and  orators,  138. 

Early  civilization  and  scholarship  of  the,  141. 
Ireland,  literature,  science  and  art  in,  142. 
Indians,  Penn's  treaty  with  the,  205. 
Italy,  Climate  and  physical  features  of,  273. 
Italian  people;  their  great  achievements,  274. 
India,  invaded  by  Alexander  the  Great,  438. 

Dancing-girls  of,  446. 


Japanese,  Manners  and  customs  of,  458. 

love  of  nature,  459. 

religion  and  mythology,  459. 
Japan,  Female  fashions  in,  461. 


K 


Killarney,  Lakes  of,   135. 
Knox,  John,  160. 
Kosciusko,  Fall  of,  367. 
Kremlin  at  Moscow,  378. 


Literature,  Golden  age  of  English,  88. 

of  England  at  the  present  day,  125. 
Legends  of  lakes  in  Ireland,  136. 
Literature  of  Ireland,  142. 
Lowland  races  of  Scotland,  146. 
Literature  of  Scotland,  150. 
Lexington,  Battle  of,  213. 

Literature  of  the  American  colonial  period,  221. 
Lafayette's  visit  to  the  United  States,  229. 
Lee,  Surrender  of  General,  244. 
Lincoln,  Assassination  of  Abraham,  245. 
Literature  of  the  present  day  in  America,  262. 
Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth,  263. 


Literature  and  art  in  Italy,  274. 
Lucretia,  Rape  of,  276. 
Louis  XVI.,  Execution  of,  305. 
Literature  of  France,  313. 
Literature  of  the  Spanish  people,  3 1 7. 

of  Portugal,  323. 
"  Lusiad,  The,"  323. 
Lutzen,  Battle  of,  328. 
Luther  and  the  Reformation,  344. 
Literature,  science  and  art  of  Germany,  348. 
Lycurgus,  Draco  and  Solon,  398. 
Literature  of  Ancient  Greece,  402. 

M 

Magna  Charta,  52. 

Margaret  of  Anjou  and  the  robber,  76. 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  86. 

Milton  and  his  poetry,  lOO. 

Methodism,  Rise  and  development  of,  109. 

Moore,  Poetry  of  Thomas,  139. 

Mexico,  Conquest  of  by  Cortez,  171. 

Maximilian  shot,  174. 

Montcalm,  Death  of,   194. 

Maryland,  Settlement  of,  201. 

Mayflower,  Pilgrims  voyage  in  the,  202. 

"  Monroe  Doctrine,"  229. 

Morse  invents  the  telegraph,  236. 

Monitor  and  Merrimac,  245. 

Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael,  286. 

Milan  Cathedral,  292. 

Mirabeau,  305. 

Marseillaise  hymn,  305. 

Murillo,  Anecdote  of,  318. 

Madrid,  318. 

Maid  of  Saragossa,  320. 

Mythology  of  the  Norsemen,  326. 

Margaret,  "  the  Semiramis  of  the  North,"  328. 

Mortgarten,  Battle  of,  333. 

Moltke,  Generalship  of  Von,  353. 

Music  and  musicians  in  Austria,  360. 

Moscow,  377. 

Mahometanism,  386. 

Marathon,  Battle  of,  398. 

Memnon,  Statue  of,  416. 

Moses'  Well,  416. 

Mummies,  Egyptian,  419. 

Mikado  of  Japan,  458. 

Melbourne,  463. 

Maoris.  The,  471. 

Malaysian  Islands,  474. 

N 

Norman  conquest  of  England,  37, 
Newton  and  his  discoveries,  106. 
Na]>oleon  Bonaparte,  306. 
Nihilists,  The,  373. 
Novgorod,  379- 
Nineveh,  Ruins  of,  434. 
Nautch  or  dancing-girls  of  India,  4461 
New  South  Wales,  462. 


Owen  Glendowcr,  71. 
Oglethorpe,  James,  207. 


Poicliers,  Battle  of,  63. 

Poets,  Homes  of  the  English,  17. 

Plague  of  London,  102. 


480 


INDEX. 


Parnell,  Charles  Stewart,  1 37. 

I'izarro  and  the  conquest  of  Peru,  1 76. 

I'enn's  treaty  with  the  Indians,  204. 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  266. 

Payne,  John  Howard,  266. 

Padua,  291. 

Pompeii,  Destruction  of,  294. 

Pius  IX.,  295. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  300. 

Paris,  Magnificence  of,  312. 

Prim,  Assassination  of  General,  32I. 

Peter  the  Great,  365. 

I'lague  at  Athens,  399. 

Philip  of  Macedon,  400. 

Porus,  Defeat  of,  401. 

Philosophers  of  Greece,  40I. 

Palestine  and  Syria,  429. 

Persia,  Climate  of,  436. 


Quebec,  Founding  of,  lio. 
Capture  of,   1 10. 


Robin  Hood,  Little  John  and  Friar  Tuck,  44. 

Richard  Coeur-de-I.ion,  50.  ■ 

Rob  Roy,  148. 

Riel's  rebellion,  195. 

Romulus  and  Remus,  274. 

Roman  Catacombs,  283. 

Rienzi,  Nicoli  de,  284. 

Rabelais,  303. 

Russia,  Hi:.tory  of,  364. 

Russian  superstition,  382. 

Rameses  the  Great,  416. 

Religion  of  ancient  Egypt,  419. 

of  tlie  Japanese,  459. 
Rothe-Mahana,  Lake,  471. 


Scandinavian  invasion  of  Great  Britain,  30, 

Spanish  armada,  87. 

Shakespeare,  88. 

Science  and  art  in  England,  1 25. 

Science,  art  and  literature  in  Ireland,  142. 

Scotland,  its  freedom  and  independence,  144. 

Science,  art  and  literature  in  Scotland,  150. 

Scotland's  union  with  England,  160. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  238. 

Signal  Service,  United  States,  260. 

Science,  art  and  literature  in  the  United  States,  262. 

in  Italy,  274. 

in  France,  313. 

in  Spain,  317. 
Soult,  Anecdote  of  Marshal,  318. 
Sarngossa  and  its  sieges,  319. 
Science,  art  and  literature  in  Portugal,  323. 
Sea-Kings,  326. 
Swedes  and  Norwegians,  330. 
Switzerland,  early  races  of,  331. 
Sempach,  Battle  of,  333. 
Science,  art  and  literature  in  Germany,  348. 
Siberia,  383. 

Science,  art  and  literature  in  Greece,  402. 
Suez  Canal,  418. 
Science,  ait  and  literature  in  Japan,  459. 


Tournaments,  58. 
Translation  of  the  Scriptures,  92. 
Trenton,  Battle  of,   214. 
Taylor  and  Scott  invade  Mexico,  237. 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  251. 
Tell,  William,  332. 
Tyrol  and  the  Tyrolese,  362. 

Turkey,  Geographical  position  and  population  of,  385. 
Turkish  History,  387. 
Shopkeepers,  392. 
Turkey,  Women  of,  393. 
ThermopyliTe,  Pass  of,  399. 
Tadmor,  Ruins  of,  433. 
Thugs,  The,  445. 
Tycoon  of  Japan,  458. 
Tasmania,  464. 

u 

Union  of  Scotland  and  England,  160. 

United  Slates,  Remarkable  rate  of  progress  of  the,  161. 

Settlement  of  the,  20I. 

Treaty  of  peace  between  England  and  the, 
218. 

Signal  Service,  260. 


Voyages  of  Columbus,  164. 

Venezuela,  178. 

Vatican  and  St.  Peter's,  286. 

Venice,  Grand  Canal  of,  291. 

Valencia,  315. 

Victories  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  328. 

Vienna,  Siege  of,  358. 

Van  Diemen's  Land,  463. 

w 

William  the  Conqueror,  37. 

Wat  Tyler,  Insurrection  of,  68. 

Wickliffe  and  the  Reformation  in  England,  73. 

"Wars  of  the  Roses,"  75. 

Warwick  the  "  King-maker,"  76. 

Witchcraft  and  astrology,  78. 

Wolsey,  Fall  of  Cardinal,  82. 

Wallace  and  Bruce,  157. 

Wolfe,  Death  of  General,  194. 

Washington,  George,  219. 

Webster,  Daniel,  233. 

Whittier,  J.  G.,  265. 

Westphalia,  Peace  of,  341. 

William,  Emperor  of  Germany,  351 

Wall,  The  great  Chinese,  450. 


Yosemite  Falls,  257. 
Varra-yarra,  463. 


Zulti  war  and  death  of  Prince  Napoleon,  121. 
Zambesi  and  the  Congo,  428. 
Zealand,  New,  470. 


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